3 Takeaways From the Maple Leafs’ 3-1 Loss to the Islanders

The Toronto Maple Leafs wore their green and white St. Pats jerseys on Tuesday night, but the luck of the Irish was nowhere to be found at Scotiabank Arena. In what has become a recurring theme lately, the Maple Leafs fell 3-1 to the New York Islanders, officially making it three losses in their last four games.

With the postseason seemingly out of the picture and Auston Matthews out for the rest of the season, these games are now about individual pride and even future roster spots.

Disastrous Start on Special Teams

If you want to know why the Maple Leafs lost this game, you only have to look at the first ten minutes. Toronto entered the night with one of the league’s better penalty kills, but they looked completely lost against an Islanders power play led by hometown kid Matthew Schaefer.

Related: Auston Matthews’ Injury Gives Him Time to Weigh Future

Early penalties by Nick Robertson and Brandon Carlo effectively cost them the game. Newly acquired Islanders forward Brayden Schenn opened the scoring on the first man advantage, and rookie Calum Ritchie doubled the lead before the game was even ten minutes old. With how bad their team has been this season you simply cannot afford to spot a team with a 2-0 lead within the first 10 minutes. It forced the Maple Leafs to chase the game against an Islanders team that is perfectly comfortable sitting back and clogging up the neutral zone. A strategy that Toronto can’t seem to figure out how to play well against.

Groulx & Lorentz Provide a Spark

It wasn’t all bad, though. If there is one storyline that is actually fun to follow right now, it’s the play of the depth guys. Bo Groulx, who is coming off a massive two-goal game in Minnesota, was once again a factor. He has now set a career-high in points with four in five games with the Maple Leafs He used his vision to set up Steven Lorentz for the team’s only goal of the night in the second period.

Groulx has been a revelation since his call-up from the Marlies. He’s playing with the kind of urgency that this team desperately needs. Showing Craig Berube that he’s more than just a fill-in. Lorentz also deserves some credit for finding the dirty areas of the ice. In a season where the entire organization is under fire. Seeing late season call ups provide an offensive spark, it is great to see from the fan base’s perspective.

Woll Keeps it Respectable

Despite the score, Joseph Woll put in another solid effort in the crease. He finished the night with 31 saves and was the one of the only reasons the Islanders didn’t run away with this one in the third period. He looked calm and made a few massive stops on Mathew Barzal to keep the Maple Leafs in the game striking distance until John Tavares took a four-minute high sticking penalty with five minutes to go.

Related: Maple Leafs Will Feel Fallout From Lack of Response to Matthews’ Injury

With the playoffs all but out of reach, these starts are massive for Woll. He’s essentially auditioning to be the undisputed number one starter for 2026-27. While he didn’t get the win, he put in another very good effort, which is all you can ask for right now. The focus now shifts to Friday night when the Carolina Hurricanes come to town, and while you hope the Maple Leafs can find some offensive support for their goaltender. Leafs Land is actually hoping the losing keeps up to better their chances of getting their first round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.