Easton Cowan had a goal and an assist in the first period Wednesday night, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting New York Islanders 2-1 for new coach Jim Hiller’s first win.
Colton Sissons also scored for the Maple Leafs, who have split their first two games. They lost their home opener 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.
Emil Heineman scored for the Islanders in their season opener. Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots.
The Islanders dominated the early minutes before the Maple Leafs took over. Toronto took the lead at 7:14 of the first on Sissons’ tip-in of a shot by Nicholas Paul.
Cowan set up the play with industrious work in the left corner.
Cowan gave Toronto a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 11:55 of the first, calmly sliding home a pass to the goalmouth from Jack Roslovic. Victor Eklund was serving a penalty for cross-checking John Tavares.
Sissons came close to making it 3-0 at 14:22 of the second when he ripped an 18-foot shot off the right post following an Alexander Romanov turnover. Sorokin had stopped Sissons earlier in the second.
Stolarz kept his shutout bid alive when he foiled Anthony Duclair at 6:38 of the third. The Islanders went on the power play, and Stolarz was called upon to make a save on Kyle Palmieri.
The visitors got another chance with the man advantage when Jake McCabe was called for tripping Bo Horvat at 10:50 of the third. Horvat had the first good shot of the power play from the right circle, but it found Stolarz’s pads.
The parade of minor penalties continued with Toronto getting the next power play. It backfired when Horvat passed from the right wing to set up Heineman at the edge of the crease for a short-handed goal at 14:09 of the third.
Toronto withstood a late flurry with Sorokin off for an extra attacker.
