Islanders Carry a Winless Road Record Into Toronto
The Leafs create plenty but leak more, and the Islanders have yet to bank a road win as they return to Scotiabank Arena.
Written before the game
Both of these clubs come in tangled together in the Eastern Conference wild-card scrum, and the numbers say neither has kept its own end tidy. Toronto has generated the better chances of the two, but it has also given up more than it creates.
Through eight games the Maple Leafs have averaged 3.54 expected goals for -- a measure of how many goals their chances were worth -- against 3.71 allowed. Opponents are also firing far more shot attempts at them, averaging 63.5 per game while Toronto manages 54.1. That is a team trading chances, and it showed when the Leafs let a third-period lead get away against Buffalo in a 5-4 overtime loss.
New York plays a quieter game: fewer chances created, fewer allowed than Toronto, and a +3 goal differential to show for it. The catch is location. The Islanders are 3-1-0 at home and 0-2-1 on the road, and this one is in Toronto, where the Leafs already won the season opener between them.
Auston Matthews has led Toronto with six goals and seven assists, while Matias Maccelli brings a five-game point streak for the Islanders. Chris Tanev is expected to miss at least a week with an upper-body injury.
The standings stakes are simple. Toronto (8 points) sits 10th in the East, one spot and one point ahead of New York (7 points), which has a game in hand.
