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 Center Phil Kessel opened and closed the second period outburst
for the Leafs and Bernier made 17 saves in a spectacular shutout
third period as Toronto beat the New York Islanders 5-2 at Nassau
Coliseum on Tuesday.
"Whenever your team scores that many goals, you've got to find a way
to win those," Bernier said after earning his first win of the
season in his fourth start.
Bernier ended the night with 34 saves, including several of the
point-blank variety in the third.
With the Islanders on a power play and a little less than 12 minutes
remaining, Bernier was on his stomach yet got his stick into the
open right corner of the net to corral a shot by center Casey
Cizikas.
"Which one was that?" Bernier said before getting a further
description. "On my stomach. I don't know, I just guess you just try
to react right."
Kessel reacted right -- and displayed his athleticism and uncanny
nose for the net -- on his goals, both of which came about
spontaneously.
He was jumping over the boards for a shift change when he took a
pass in stride from center Leo Komarov and beat Islanders goalie
Jaroslav Halak from the right faceoff circle with 11:56 left in the
second.
Defenseman Roman Polak scored the game-winner just 2:07 later while
right winger David Clarkson extended the lead to 4-2 at 16:21.
Kessel scored his second goal 1:32 later, when he broke down the ice
in anticipation of a clearing pass out of the Maple Leafs' zone by
left winger James Van Riemsdyk. Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey,
whose turnover deep in the New York zone in the first led to a
game-tying goal by Riemsdyk, jumped to try and knock the puck down,
but he missed. Kessel picked it up and easily beat Halak on the
breakaway.
"Special players find ways to score those goals," Maple Leafs coach
Randy Carlyle said. "Those are goals that goal-scorers score."
The four second-period goals were as many as the Maple Leafs scored
in their previous three games combined. It was also the second time
this season Toronto scored at least four goals in a period. The
Maple Leafs scored five goals in the second period of a 6-3 win over
the New York Rangers on Oct. 12.
"We kind of got things going our way in the second period and then
we finally decided that we're going to control the puck in the
offensive zone a little bit more and we were rewarded for that,"
Carlyle said.
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The third period on Tuesday was all about Bernier, which didn't
exactly thrill Carlyle, even after the Maple Leafs (3-3-1) snapped a
two-game losing streak.
"Our goaltender in the third period was called upon," Carlyle said.
"We stopped playing. We just started watching."
Defenseman Nick Leddy and center John Tavares scored in the first
period for the Islanders (4-2-0), who lost two straight following
the third 4-0-0 start in franchise history.
"They got a surge and they got some momentum in the second during
the eight or 10 minutes," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "But we
had some chances. It's a different game if we can get the (third)
one. Just couldn't get it by (Bernier) when we needed to."
Halak was pulled after the nightmarish second period, which was the
worst period for the Islanders since they gave up five second-period
goals against Washington on Nov. 5, 2013.
Halak made 18 saves on 23 shots overall. Backup Chad Johnson made
five saves in the third period.
NOTES: Mark Hunter, who played for five NHL teams from 1981-92, was
named the Maple Leafs' director of player personnel on Tuesday.
Hunter spent the previous 12 years in a variety of management
positions, including co-owner, with the London Knights of the OHL.
... The Maple Leafs scratched RW Carter Ashton and RW Matt Frattin.
... The Islanders scratched the healthy duo of LW Eric Boulton and D
Matt Donovan, while C Mikhail Grabovski, who suffered an upper-body
injury against the San Jose Sharks last Thursday, was also
scratched. He skated Tuesday morning and is day-to-day. ...
Islanders D Thomas Hickey was helped off the ice after being cut
under his mouth by a skate in the third period.
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