Islanders provide good reason for optimism with well-rounded win over Maple Leafs

TORONTO — OK, maybe there’s something here. If this is what the Islanders can do with a healthy forward group, if this is the sort of physicality and effort they can bring on a nightly basis, if they can roll four lines the way they did Saturday in Toronto, then the five-point gap to the playoffs the Islanders started the day staring at is going to be nothing. Easier said than done, as anyone with even a passing familiarity of these Islanders is well aware. Still, this 6-3 victory over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on the night of Anthony Duclair’s return to the lineup marked one of the best 60-minute efforts the Islanders have put forth all season. This, surely, was what Lou Lamoriello and Patrick Roy envisioned during training camp — a lineup that suddenly looked deep, physical and offensively skilled throughout, that finished checks and controlled the game on the road against a high-end opponent.Yes, the Leafs had played the night before and were without Auston Matthews, but after two months of misery for the Islanders, forgive them for not caring so much about those caveats. After the Leafs recovered from the best opening punches the Islanders have thrown in weeks, pulling a 3-1 game back to 3-2 on William Nylander’s second goal of the night at 5:43 of the second, getting back across the border with two points would require the Islanders to hang onto the lead. It’s been some time since they blew one — in no small measure because they haven’t had many leads to blow — but this was prime territory for the old demons to return, no matter how well the Isles had played earlier in the night. That pressure was relieved just 5:23 into the third as Isaiah George — a native of Oakville, Ontario, just 35 minutes down the road from Toronto — scored his first NHL goal on a shot from the left point, getting hugged by all four other Islanders on the ice in the immediate aftermath. The goal, which made it 4-2, also marked Duclair’s first po...