New York Islanders

Islanders Game 27 Preview vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Lines, Best Bets, How To Watch

Published

5 months ago

December 11, 2023

The New York Islanders look to establish their first winning streak since the start of the season as they welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs to UBS Arena tonight. Here’s what you need to know before puck drop.

Islanders Send Down Hutton:

The Islanders officially announced on Monday morning that they had returned defenseman Grant Hutton on loan to AHL Bridgeport.

Hutton played in one game for the Islanders during his brief call-up, filling in on an emergency basis on the backend with Sebastian Aho and Adam Pelech on injured reserve. But after adding the likes of Mike Reilly via waivers and Robert Bortuzzo via trade, Hutton was relegated to a depth role.

With Aho progressing closer to his return each day, Hutton heads back to the minors.

Maggio Learning To Be A Pro:

Matthew Maggio is one of the top prospects in the Islanders’ system. Confidence permeates off of him. As he goes through the natural growing pains of becoming a pro, he’s learning it takes more than confidence to succeed in this game.

Islanders In The System: Maggio Talks Growing Pains Of First Pro Season

Projected Lineup:

Lee-Horvat-Barzal

Engvall-Nelson-Palmieri

Holmstrom-Pageau-Gauthier

Fasching-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Romanov-Dobson

Reilly-Mayfield

Bolduc-Bortuzzo

Sorokin

Varlamov

Last Time Out:

The Islanders have typically been the ones on the losing side of overtime games.

On Saturday, against the Los Angeles Kings, they flipped the script. Facing a two-goal deficit in the third period, Anders Lee scored twice, setting the stage for Jean-Gabriel Pageau to score the overtime winner.

Read the key takeaways and locker room reaction from the Islanders’ best win of the year so far.

The Opponent:

The Toronto Maple Leafs (14-6-4) are have won seven of their last ten contests, which is tied with the Islanders for the best record in the league over that span.

Toronto is coming off a shutout victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, during which Ilya Samsonov made a clean 18 saves.

Samsonov is expected to start in goal tonight against the Islanders. He posts a 3.21 GAA and a .866 save percentage in 11 starts this season.

Impending unrestricted free agent William Nylander is doing himself as good of a service as possible, leading the Leafs with 32 points this season. Auston Matthews’ 18 goals is second in the NHL this year.

Former Islanders captain John Tavares has 23 points with seven goals this season. He is two points away from reaching the thousand point benchmark in his career.

The Maple Leafs have the the league’s ninth ranked power play and 16th ranked penalty kill.

Best Bets:

The Maple Leafs are a high octane offense, which means Ilya Sorokin will his work cut out for him in net tonight. Take the over on Sorokin 30.5 saves tonight by using odds presented by Draft Kings.

How To Watch:

Puck drop between the Islanders and Maple Leafs from UBS Arena is scheduled for just past 7 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on MSG Network and streamed on MSG + or ESPN+ for out-of-market viewers. 88.7 FM WRHU will produce the radio feed of the game, which can also be heard on 1050 AM ESPN and 103.9 FM WRCN.