TORONTO (AP) — Matt Moulson and the New York Islanders needed a little time to get up to full speed.
The forward scored twice in his 248th straight NHL game, helping the Islanders overcome an early two-goal deficit in a 7-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
"I had a bunch of chances the last couple of games, but couldn't get anything to go in," Moulson said. "I just have to keep whacking away in front of the net. A lot of credit to my linemates for working hard and creating chances for me."
Moulson, in his fifth NHL season and fourth with the Islanders, has yet to miss a game with New York. Only Billy Harris (576 games), Bob Nystrom (301) and Denis Potvin (262) have played in more consecutive contests in club history.
New York (2-1) trailed 3-1 after the first period, but gained momentum by killing off a late two-man disadvantage. After tying it with two goals in the second, the Islanders took control by scoring four times in the third in the opener of a five-game, eight-day trip.
"Killing that (5-on-3) penalty when we were down 3-1 late in the first period, you could look at that as a turning point for us," said Islanders forward Brad Boyes, who had a goal against his former team. "If they get one there, it's probably a much different game."
Toronto (2-2) fell to 0-2 on home ice this season and returned to the Air Canada Centre following a solid 5-2 road victory in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. But that didn't impress some among the ACC gathering of 19,125 who began chanting "Let's go Blue Jays!" with 2:40 remaining.
"I think we saw one team last night and a totally different team tonight," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. "We were out of it, we were out of sync.
"I thought the first period was more a shinny period of hockey. We were skating but we weren't really engaged in the game. We managed to get a 3-1 lead out of it but really the last 7, 8 minutes of the first period was the start of the way we finished the game."
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