Holmstrom Scores Twice as Sorokin Stops 28 in Islanders’ 4-1 Win Over Maple Leafs

Simon Holmstrom scored twice in the third period and Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves as the New York Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at Scotiabank Arena.

Toronto cut a two-goal deficit to one early in the third and outshot New York 13-3 over the final period. Holmstrom restored the Islanders’ two-goal lead with 5:52 remaining, then added an empty-net goal at 17:55. Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, while Anthony Duclair opened the scoring.

The Islanders improved to 4-3-1 with nine points. Toronto, which received its only goal from Colton Sissons, fell to 3-4-2 with eight points. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 of the 19 shots he faced; New York’s fourth goal came with the Toronto net empty.

How the scoring unfolded

Times are elapsed within the period. Running scores list the Islanders first. Season goal totals appear in parentheses.

EV denotes even strength. EV-EN denotes the officially recorded even-strength goal into an empty net. Holmstrom’s second goal came with Toronto using six skaters and does not belong in the five-on-five, both-goalies-present analysis below.

By period and by the numbers

Total shot attempts include shots on goal, missed shots and attempts blocked by an opponent. The Islanders’ power-play time included 10 seconds at five-on-three. Both teams finished without a power-play goal.

Horvat gives New York room before the third

Duclair put the Islanders ahead at 8:18 of the first period, scoring his second goal of the season on a wrist shot with Jean-Gabriel Pageau receiving the assist. New York held an 11-10 shot advantage in the opening period and took that one-goal lead into the first intermission.

Toronto’s first two penalties came late in the period. Darren Raddysh went off for tripping at 16:36, followed by Easton Cowan for sending the puck over the glass at 18:26. The overlap gave New York 10 seconds at five-on-three, but the Maple Leafs kept the deficit at one.

The clubs each had six shots in the second. Horvat made it 2-0 at 18:33, scoring his fifth goal of the season with Kyle Palmieri assisting. That late goal gave the Islanders a two-goal margin entering the third, although an interference penalty to Adam Pelech at 19:21 allowed Toronto to carry power-play time across the intermission.

Sissons cuts the lead, Holmstrom closes it out

Toronto did not score on the Pelech penalty or on Emil Heineman’s tripping penalty at 1:23 of the third. Sissons broke through at even strength at 3:54, with his second goal of the season recorded as a tip-in. Troy Stecher and Cowan had the assists.

The Maple Leafs had another chance to tie on the power play when Matthew Schaefer was penalized for sending the puck over the glass at 10:10. The Islanders killed that penalty, keeping the score at 2-1 before Holmstrom struck at 14:08. Horvat and Schaefer assisted on the wrist-shot goal that restored New York’s two-goal lead.

Holmstrom added his second of the night and third of the season into the empty net at 17:55. He scored on both of his shots. Sorokin finished with a .966 save percentage, allowing only Sissons’ goal on Toronto’s 29 shots.

Special teams stay scoreless

Toronto finished 0-for-3 on the power play over six minutes, including two opportunities before Sissons’ goal and the chance to erase the one-goal deficit midway through the third. New York was 0-for-2 over 3:50 of power-play time. All five goals were officially recorded at even strength, with Holmstrom’s second carrying the empty-net distinction.

New York led the recorded hits 29-18, while Toronto blocked 18 shots to the Islanders’ four. Those blocks help explain why the final shots-on-goal margin does not describe every attempt: New York had 53 total attempts, including missed and blocked shots, to Toronto’s 45. The Maple Leafs led shots on goal 29-20 and faceoffs 23-22.

Horvat, Palmieri and Holmstrom supply two five-on-five goals

New York outscored Toronto 3-1 at five-on-five with both goalies present, while the Maple Leafs held a 19-17 advantage in shots on goal over that 49:28 sample. The personnel on the scoring shifts differed from several of the combinations with the most shared time.

Horvat, Palmieri and Holmstrom shared 6:02 at five-on-five, outshot Toronto 3-1 and were together for Horvat’s second-period goal and Holmstrom’s first goal in the third. Horvat also spent 5:04 with Matias Maccelli and Holmstrom. That trio led shots 2-1 without a goal for or against. Maccelli played seven shifts and 5:39 overall; Calum Ritchie appeared for one 28-second shift. The official records establish their limited participation without providing a medical explanation.

Toronto’s Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Jack Roslovic had the most shared five-on-five time among the listed forward trios, 10:50. They trailed shots 6-3 but were on for no goals at that strength. Nylander was on the ice for Horvat’s goal and Holmstrom’s first goal with other forward groups. Those exact Toronto trios had only 24 seconds and 12 seconds of shared five-on-five time, respectively, so neither goal can be assigned to the regular Matthews combination.

Sissons scored with Nick Paul and Cowan, a group that shared 1:24 at five-on-five. His longer-running combination with Bo Groulx and Gavin McKenna shared 6:22, led shots 3-2 and had no goals for or against.

Forward combinations

These are selected combinations from this game, ordered within each club by shared five-on-five time. Personnel order identifies the group without assigning wing or center positions. SF and SA are shots on goal for and against, including goals; GF and GA are goals for and against.

Defensive pairs

Logan Stanley and Schaefer shared 16:36, with an 11-4 shot advantage and a 1-0 goal advantage. Schaefer assisted on the goal during their time together, Holmstrom’s third-period score. Schaefer and Horvat each played 24:21 overall, and Schaefer led New York with five shots on goal.

Jake McCabe and Raddysh had Toronto’s most shared five-on-five time among defense pairs, 14:32, with a 5-4 shot advantage and no goals for or against. Stecher and Morgan Rielly trailed shots 8-4 in 10:29 and were on for Horvat’s goal. Toronto’s scoring pair was Stecher and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who shared 5:47 and led shots 3-1 with Sissons’ goal the only score during their time together.

Scoring-shift personnel

The brief groups on individual scoring shifts are listed separately from the longer combinations above. The empty-net goal is included here to show personnel, but excluded from the five-on-five measures.

Scoring-shift personnel

Goal	NYI forwards; defense	TOR forwards; defense
P1 8:18 NYI	Jean-Gabriel Pageau / Anthony Duclair / Emil Heineman; Matthew Kessel / Tony DeAngelo	Easton Cowan / Kirill Marchenko / Nick Paul; Nick Blankenburg / Oliver Ekman-Larsson
P2 18:33 NYI	Bo Horvat / Kyle Palmieri / Simon Holmstrom; Adam Pelech / Ryan Pulock	Teddy Blueger / William Nylander / Gavin McKenna; Troy Stecher / Morgan Rielly
P3 3:54 TOR	Brayden Schenn / Kyle Palmieri / Anthony Duclair; Matthew Schaefer / Tony DeAngelo	Colton Sissons / Easton Cowan / Nick Paul; Troy Stecher / Oliver Ekman-Larsson
P3 14:08 NYI	Bo Horvat / Kyle Palmieri / Simon Holmstrom; Logan Stanley / Matthew Schaefer	Colton Sissons / Teddy Blueger / William Nylander; Jake McCabe / Oliver Ekman-Larsson
P3 17:55 NYI (empty net)	Jean-Gabriel Pageau / Casey Cizikas / Simon Holmstrom; Adam Pelech / Ryan Pulock	Colton Sissons / Auston Matthews / Kirill Marchenko / William Nylander / Gavin McKenna; Darren Raddysh

The shared-time figures come from overlaps in the official shift reports, restricted to five skaters and a goalie on each side. Shot and goal assignments use the official play-by-play’s on-ice personnel and strength record. The empty-net interval, power plays and penalty kills are excluded. Each row uses that group’s own minutes; forward and defense rows overlap and should not be added together. These are single-game results rather than rankings of sustainable unit quality.

What comes next

Toronto stays home to face the San Jose Sharks on Monday, October 19, at Scotiabank Arena. The scheduled start is 5:30 p.m. MDT.

The Islanders return to UBS Arena to play the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, October 20, at 5 p.m. MDT.

Complete player reference

All 36 skaters listed below participated. Times are minutes:seconds. Even-strength ice time includes the official even-strength situations and is distinct from the filtered five-on-five sample used for combination analysis.

New York Islanders: scoring and events

New York Islanders: deployment and faceoffs

Toronto Maple Leafs: scoring and events

Toronto Maple Leafs: deployment and faceoffs

G: goals; A: assists; P: points; +/-: plus-minus; PPG: power-play goals; SOG: shots on goal; HIT: hits; BLK: shots blocked; MISS: missed shots; AB: shot attempts blocked by an opponent; GVA: giveaways; TKA: takeaways; PEN: penalties; PIM: penalty minutes. TOI: total ice time; EV: even strength; PP: power play; SH: shorthanded; FOW/FOL: faceoffs won/lost; FO%: faceoff percentage. N/A in FO% means the player took no faceoffs.

Goaltenders

SV: saves; SA: shots against; GA: goals against; SV%: save percentage. New York scored once during Toronto’s 0:42 of empty-net time; that goal is not charged to Bobrovsky.

Penalties

Starting personnel and scratches

Islanders, official starters: Logan Stanley (D), Bo Horvat (C), Matthew Schaefer (D), Matias Maccelli (L), Simon Holmstrom (R), Ilya Sorokin (G).

Islanders, scratches: Scott Mayfield, Alexander Romanov, Kyle MacLean.

Maple Leafs, official starters: Troy Stecher (D), Auston Matthews (C), Morgan Rielly (D), William Nylander (R), Jack Roslovic (C), Sergei Bobrovsky (G).

Maple Leafs, scratches: Marshall Rifai.

Calum Ritchie’s participation was one shift and 0:28; Matias Maccelli played seven shifts and 5:39. Those official ice-time totals do not establish why either player’s participation was limited.

Official statistics and video

The scoring table links the NHL’s official video for all five goals. Further official game records: Gamecenter, game summary, event summary, playing roster, play-by-play, Islanders shifts and Maple Leafs shifts.

Source note

Islanders postgame interviews from this game were not yet available in the official team feeds checked at 7:50 p.m. MDT on October 17, 2026.