TORONTO — For all the pregame hype around Matthew Schaefer playing his first game in Toronto, it was the Islanders’ other local-native rookie, Cal Ritchie, who scored in his first game back home Tuesday.
And for all the consternation about the Islanders’ power play all year long, the 5-on-4 unit finally looks like it’s heating up, scoring twice for the second time in four games.
That all added up to a fairly straightforward 3-1 win against a Maple Leafs side that looks painfully aware that they’re out of the playoff race. Two points here was a box the Islanders had to check on this road trip that next heads to Ottawa, with a razor-tight playoff race affording little margin for error.
The Islanders fulfilled their end of the bargain here in workmanlike fashion. They led from 4:15 in and put on a clinic in defending a lead: controlling possession, putting the puck deep, keeping Toronto to the outside. It was far from the Islanders’ most entertaining game of the season, but the two headliners — Ritchie and the power play — carry serious implications if what we saw Tuesday can last.
There have been moments this season when Ritchie seemed to waver in confidence. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, it felt like the Islanders were pushing for more out of the 21-year-old.
He’s continued to have ups and downs, as expected from any rookie, but the move to the wing is going well.
So is putting Ritchie on a line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee, two players who can more than make up for what the rookie lacks in experience and physicality.
It was only right, too, that Brayden Schenn, whom the Isles have assigned to mentor Ritchie, scored his first goal for the franchise on an assist from the rookie. It was a beauty, with Ritchie in the middle of a tic-tac-toe power-play goal that started with Mathew Barzal and ended with Schenn just 4:15 into the night.
Schenn’s was the first of two goals the power play scored in the first period, and the second was all Ritchie, stuffing in his own rebound just nine seconds after Brandon Carlo went for a high stick.
That ought to boost Ritchie’s confidence plenty. Just as important: The power play suddenly seems potent, having won the Islanders a game in St. Louis last week — another two-point game for Ritchie — and having gotten them out to an early lead Tuesday.
At this point in the year, it’s likely too late to rescue the Islanders’ woeful ranking at 5-on-4, but they can certainly render it meaningless.
Coach Patrick Roy and assistant Ray Bennett have preached simple hockey on the power play: stop looking for perfect, shoot the puck and get to the net. Finally, there appear to be signs of a breakthrough.
For all that, plus Barzal notching a three-assist night for the first time since January 2024, you’d think this game had plenty more excitement than it did.
Aside from the odd moment, though — Morgan Rielly dropping gloves with Kyle MacLean, Emil Heineman’s one-timer that made it 3-1 off a suffocating top-line shift — the game was in a sort of stasis.
The Leafs, with little energy in front of a quiet home crowd, never really forced the issue, and the Islanders were plenty content with that equilibrium.
All told, it was one of the more forgettable 60 minutes of the season. If its trends can last, though, it will be one to remember down the line.
