TORONTO — OK, maybe there’s something here.
If this is what the Islanders can do with a healthy forward group, if this is the sort of physicality and effort they can bring on a nightly basis, if they can roll four lines the way they did Saturday in Toronto, then the five-point gap to the playoffs the Islanders started the day staring at is going to be nothing.
Easier said than done, as anyone with even a passing familiarity of these Islanders is well aware.
Still, this 6-3 victory over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on the night of Anthony Duclair’s return to the lineup marked one of the best 60-minute efforts the Islanders have put forth all season.
This, surely, was what Lou Lamoriello and Patrick Roy envisioned during training camp — a lineup that suddenly looked deep, physical and offensively skilled throughout, that finished checks and controlled the game on the road against a high-end opponent.
Yes, the Leafs had played the night before and were without Auston Matthews, but after two months of misery for the Islanders, forgive them for not caring so much about those caveats.
After the Leafs recovered from the best opening punches the Islanders have thrown in weeks, pulling a 3-1 game back to 3-2 on William Nylander’s second goal of the night at 5:43 of the second, getting back across the border with two points would require the Islanders to hang onto the lead.
It’s been some time since they blew one — in no small measure because they haven’t had many leads to blow — but this was prime territory for the old demons to return, no matter how well the Isles had played earlier in the night.
That pressure was relieved just 5:23 into the third as Isaiah George — a native of Oakville, Ontario, just 35 minutes down the road from Toronto — scored his first NHL goal on a shot from the left point, getting hugged by all four other Islanders on the ice in the immediate aftermath.
The goal, which made it 4-2, also marked Duclair’s first point, as he got the primary assist.
But this moment was reserved for the young defenseman who came back into the lineup Saturday after a pair of healthy scratches and who has impressed everyone in the organization since being called up in early November.
Bo Horvat got his third point of the game shortly thereafter, tipping in Noah Dobson’s feed to extend the lead to 5-2 and preemptively fend off a late push from the Leafs.
Bobby McMann’s goal at 13:49 created a pinch of drama before Mat Barzal’s empty-netter — his first point since returning from injury — brought the lead back to three.
The Islanders have been searching for a 60-minute effort. This is what it looked like.
Max Tsyplakov and Horvat — playing together on a line with Simon Holmstrom — scored consecutive goals inside the game’s first five minutes, with Horvat feeding Tsyplakov in front on the opener before keeping it himself off a two-on-one and beating Joseph Woll to double the lead.
That prompted Leafs coach Craig Berube to use his timeout just 4:48 into the match, settling Toronto down before William Nylander eventually got the Leafs on the board by driving the net before finishing on his backhand at the 12:29 mark.
The Islanders, though, had a response ready, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau cleaning up Anders Lee’s rebound after Alexander Romanov chased down a loose puck to create an odd-man rush.
It was the first time in nine games the Isles had scored first. Then they went and followed it up.
Beating the Sabres at home Monday still is necessary to get to NHL-.500 by the holiday break, and that even being a milestone tells you that putting Saturday’s performance into the big picture requires a healthy dose of skepticism.
But the Islanders are finally healthy, and they finally have something to build on. It’s been a while since those were both true.
