Maple Leafs 5, Islanders 2
Phil Kessel scored two of Toronto's four second-period goals in a rout of host New York..
Defenseman Roman Polak joined Clarkson by tallying in the pivotal frame while James van Riemsdyk added a first-period goal for the Maple Leafs, who broke out offensively after managing just one total goal in back-to-back losses to Detroit. Jonathan Bernier turned aside 34 shots to preserve the win.
Blue-liner Nick Leddy and captain John Tavares replied for the Islanders, who have lost two straight after opening the season with four consecutive victories. Jaroslav Halak surrendered five goals on 23 shots in two periods and was relieved by Chad Johnson, who stopped all five shots he faced in the third.
Leddy opened the scoring 2:48 into the game, snapping a shot from the slot that caromed off Bernier's glove and past the netminder. Van Riemsdyk drew Toronto even less than six minutes later after a New York clearing attempt hit a partition and bounced right to Kessel, who fed a pass that van Riemsdyk wristed past Halak.
Tavares responded late in the frame - snapping a shot from the left circle past Bernier after the puck bounced off the end boards - but Kessel squared things at 9:04 of the second and Polak gave Toronto its first lead 2:07 later, wheeling around in the slot and firing a shot that beat Halak. Clarkson made it 4-2 at 16:21 as his long shot fooled Halak, and Kessel capped the uprising at 17:53 with a snapshot that eluded the Islanders goalie low on the stick side.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tavares' goal ended a streak of 16 straight Toronto penalty kills. ... Tuesday marked Kessel's first multi-goal game since Feb. 1; he had six last season, with the Maple Leafs winning all six of those games. ... New York is just 1-for-13 with the man advantage in its back-to-back losses.