The Toronto Maple Leafs need to keep building on the momentum created by their success over the last two weeks and their success at Scotiabank Arena, and start to find ways to win on the road. The Leafs are tied with Detroit for the most wins on home ice with a 14-5-5 record, but their away record is a league-worst 5-10-1, and if not improved on, will lead to their downfall.
Toronto is 4-0-1 in its last five games, and that success has them back in the Eastern Conference playoff race, as they are two points back of Buffalo and three points behind Washington for the two wildcard spots prior to their match against the New York Islanders. Not everything is sunshine and flowers in Leaf land, as the two of the club’s victories have been wild, scrambly affairs in which they could not hold onto multi-goal leads or fell behind by a significant margin. These types of wins are not sustainable, but at this point, Toronto will take the victories however they can get them.
The UBS Arena has been a tough venue for the Leafs to earn points since the exodus of John Tavares from Long Island seven-plus years ago, as the Islanders seem to feed off their spurned fanbase. New York will be without leading scorer and leading scorer Bo Horvat, who suffered a lower-body injury in a loss to Utah, which balances out the absence of Leafs leading scorer, William Nylander.
After another display of pathetic ineptitude in the 6-5 win over Winnipeg on Thursday, Leafs coach Craig Berube will sit defenseman Philippe Myers on Saturday in favor of veteran righty Matt Benning. Benning was acquired in October 2024 from San Jose in the Timothy Liljegren deal and played all of last season and 16 games this season with the AHL Toronto Marlies. The 31-year-old has 464 games of NHL experience with Edmonton, Nashville, and the Sharks, and appears to be a stopgap while the injured Brandon Carlo gets closer to returning.
Benning took part in the morning skate on the bottom pairing with Simon Benoit, while Troy Stecher skated with Morgan Rielly, which represents the only changes to the Toronto lineup. Joseph Woll makes the start for the Leafs after being pulled in the second period on Thursday, while former Leaf David Rittich (10-5-2, 2.46 GAA, .909 save %) gets the start for the Islanders.
In Olympic news, the Leafs will have a third player heading to the games in Milano Cortina next month, as defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson will join Nylander as a member of Team Sweden and Matthews, who was selected as one of the first six for Team USA during the summer. Ekman-Larsson is having a resurgent offensive season with Toronto, with 25 points (7 goals, 18 assists) in 40 games.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (19-15-6 – 44 POINTS)
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NEW YORK ISLANDERS (22-15-4 – 48 POINTS)
JANUARY 3, 2026 ▪ 7:00 PM EST ▪ UBS ARENA (ELMONT, NY)
TV: SPORTSNET ▪ RADIO: SPORTSNET 590
MAPLE LEAFS HISTORY vs. NEW YORK ISLANDERS
| All-Time Record: | 80-71-7-13 (171 Games) |
| All-Time Road Record: | 34-39-3-8 (84 Games) |
| 2024-25: | 2-1-0 |
| Last Five: | 2-2-1 |
| Last 10: | 4-3-3 |
| First Matchup Between Clubs: | January 10, 1973 (Toronto 4 vs. New York 2) |
| All-Time Record: | 80-71-7-13 (171 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 46-32-4-5 (87 Games) |
| All-Time Road Record: | 34-39-3-8 (84 Games) |
| Last Road Win vs. Opponent: | January 2, 2025 (Toronto 2 at New York 1) |
MAPLE LEAFS / ISLANDERS – 2025-26 TEAM STATS
| TORONTO | NEW YORK | |
| Goals For Per Game: | 3.35 (4th-T) | 2.73 (26th) |
| Goals Against Per Game: | 3.33 (26th-T) | 2.76 (7th) |
| Power Play %: | 16.8 (25th) | 16.0 (27th-T) |
| Penalty Kill %: | 83.5 (5th) | 81.2 (11th-T) |
| Shots For Per Game: | 27.3 (21st) | 28.0 (17th) |
| Shots Against Per Game: | 31.5 (32nd) | 28.1 (16th) |
| Faceoff %: | 56.3 (1st) | 51.3 (10th-T) |
| (NHL rank in parenthesis) | ||
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