Holl, Dermott score first NHL goals
TORONTO — Justin Holl and Travis Dermott both scored their first National Hockey League goal as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the New York Islanders, 5-0, on Wednesday night.
Holl’s goal came in his NHL debut after being recalled from the American Hockey League’s Marlies only a few hours before puck drop.
Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season while Kasperi Kapanen, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner also scored for the Maple Leafs (29-18-5).
Thomas Greiss stopped 45 shots for the Islanders (25-22-5), who also lost 4-1 at home against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Toronto had three rookie defencemen in the lineup, with regulars Morgan Rielly (upper body), Roman Polak (viral infection) and Ron Hainsey (illness) all scratched.
Holl, 26, with 239 minorleague games under his belt, made his NHL debut alongside first-year skaters Andreas Borgman and Dermott. Defenceman Nikita Zaitsev was also back in Toronto’s lineup after missing 17 games with a foot injury.
A strong first period allowed Toronto to head into intermission ahead 2-0. And it was 4-0 through 40 minutes.
Kapanen opened the scoring 5:37 into the game by jamming in the loose puck laying near the goal line. Matthews doubled the lead when he picked up a Zach Hyman rebound in the slot and wristed it glove side on Greiss at 13:39. Jake Gardiner started the play with a long outlet pass and picked up the other assist to extend his point streak to six games.
Andersen had a light workload in the opening 20 minutes, with the Leafs outshooting the Isles 13-3. Toronto didn’t let up to start the second, holding a 20-3 shot advantage with a little over 14 minutes to play in the period.
Just as soon as it appeared that the Islanders were gaining some traction, Marner skated into the slot and redirected a Nazem Kadri pass to make it 3-0 at 10:32.