Horvat leads Islanders past Maple Leafs 4-1 as Toronto loses third straight

Bo Horvat scored the winner and added an assist as the New York Islanders cruised past the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday night.

Simon Holmstrom with two, including one into the empty net, and Anthony Duclair had the other goals for New York (4-3-1). Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves.

Colton Sissons replied for Toronto (3-4-2). Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped three straight games, and four of their last five.

The Islanders jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 8:18 of the first period when Duclair took a pass in the slot and changed the angle before firing through a partial screen on Bobrovsky.

Coming off a hat trick in Thursday’s 5-4 home shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres, Maple Leafs winger Kirill Marchenko had a couple of chances that Sorokin turned aside in the second.

No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna, who was benched for the second half of Thursday’s contest, had an opportunity to tie things late in the period on a partial breakaway, but fired high and wide. The Islanders raced the other way, with Horvat eventually beating Bobrovsky at 18:33 to double the visitors’ lead.

Sissons got Toronto – which topped New York 2-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Sept. 30 – within one at 3:54 on a tipped shot through traffic, but Holmstrom restored the two-goal lead at 14:08 off a Horvat setup before firing into the empty net with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.