Islanders defeat Maple Leafs despite Matias Maccelli and Cal Ritchie exiting early
Islanders' Simon Holmstrom celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Toronto. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
TORONTO – There were equal parts satisfaction and concern for the Islanders.
They gutted out a 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena while down to 10 forwards after Matias Maccelli and Cal Ritchie, both in the top six, exited in the first period with lower-body injuries.
“A gutsy, gritty road win,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “You lose two men that early in the game … Our goalie was outstanding. We stayed on our toes. We kept working. We stuck to our system. We trusted each other. That was probably our most complete game of the year and our smartest game of the year.”
Both Maccelli and Ritchie will be re-evaluated back on Long Island on Sunday. Absences from either will strain the Islanders’ necessary efforts to increase their goal production. The Islanders have scored 24 this season, with 14 coming in three games, though their goal differential of plus-six speaks to their sound defensive structure.
And of how well Ilya Sorokin (28 saves) is playing. He backstopped an 3-for-3 penalty kill with five power-play saves as he moved into sole possession of second place on the Islanders’ all-time victories list with 158, breaking a tie with Chico Resch.
“When you have a guy like that back there, you just have confidence in front of him,” Bo Horvat told Newsday after scoring his team-leading fifth goal to make it 2-0 at 18:33 of the second period, then setting up Simon Holmstrom for the first of his two goals at 14:08 of the third period. “You try to play that much harder in front of him because you know he’s got your back.”
The Islanders (4-3-1) earned their first road victory but DeBoer likely will have to reconfigure his four lines for Tuesday night’s match against the Ducks at UBS Arena.
Liam Foudy, Mitchell Chaffee, Pierre Engvall and former first-round Cole Eiserman are potential candidates to get call-ups from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Hamilton, Ontario if injury replacements are needed.
“It’s a lot more of a load on some of the guys but the penalty kill did a great job,” Kyle Palmieri, who set up Horvat’s goal, told Newsday of having just 10 forwards available. “You’re rolling three lines the whole night. Guys stepped up and turned this into a really good road trip. It’s tough to lose two guys like that. Both guys have made an impact and have been playing good hockey.”
Palmieri started the game on the fourth line for the first time this season. That didn’t last long.
And Horvat logged 24:21, matching Matthew Schaefer for the team high.
“Everyone wants more ice time but that’s not the right way that everyone wants ice time,” Brayden Schenn, who would likely slide from wing into Ritchie’s role as the second-line center, told Newsday. “But when you get into that rhythm and you get into that groove, you just keep going. You don’t have time to think between shifts about what you’re feeling. You go out there and you dig in.”
Holmstrom also scored an empty-netter and now has three goals this season. Anthony Duclair opened the scoring getting open in the slot at 8:18 of the first period – the Islanders are now 4-0-1 when scoring first – for his second of the season. Those are two players who will be counted on heavily if Maccelli and/or Ritchie cannot play.
“We’re not winning unless we score a certain amount of goals,” DeBoer said. “The way we’re going to do it is through four lines of guys that can hop over the boards and, on any given night, chip in. Tonight we got a big one from Duke. That first goal changes the feel of the game.”
Maccelli, who entered the match on a five-game point streak, went down awkwardly deep in the Maple Leafs’ zone, appearing to stretch his left knee, at 16:36 of the first period. Defenseman Darren Raddysh was called for tripping and did graze Maccelli’s skate but this appeared to be as close to a non-contact injury as possible. He needed support to get off the ice and hobble down the tunnel to the Islanders’ dressing room.
Ritchie had been benched in the third period of Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss in Ottawa and lasted one shift against the Maple Leafs. He retreated to the Islanders’ room after absorbing mild contact along the wall with defenseman Nick Blankenburg at 1:52 on his left leg.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 16 saves for the Maple Leafs (3-4-2), who beat the visiting Islanders 2-1 in the season opener on Sept. 30 but are missing John Tavares (lower body) on a week-by-week basis.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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