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Islanders open home-and-home set with Maple Leafs

Jan 23, 2012 - 3:50 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Islanders will try to post their longest winning streak in nearly a year when they visit the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at Air Canada Centre for the opener of a home-and-home series.

The Islanders, who are tied for 12th in the Eastern Conference with just 44 points, have won three straight games and will try to win four in a row for the first time since Feb. 10-15 of last season.

New York's most recent victory came Saturday against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, who are one of just two teams below the Islanders in the conference standings. John Tavares scored both goals in New York's 2-1 overtime win and the All-Star forward ended the contest with the game-winner at 3:58 of the extra session.

Tavares enters tonight riding a 12-game point streak -- the longest such streak in the NHL this season -- and he has eight goals and 13 assists during the run. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 draft is leading New York this season in points with 48.

Evgeni Nabokov was excellent in net on Saturday, stopping 32-of-33 shots for the Islanders, who were outshot 15-9 in the opening period and trailed by a 1-0 score after 20 minutes

"Getting through the first period, we could have been down by two or three goals, we didn't play very well," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "But we regrouped in the intermission and played well the rest of the game."

The Islanders, who will host Toronto on Tuesday, are 8-10-3 as the road team this season.

The Maple Leafs have lost four of their last five games and are 1-2 so far on a four-game homestand that ends tonight. Overall, Toronto is 13-8-4 as the host this season.

Toronto was dealt a 3-1 loss Saturday by the rival Montreal Canadiens as Carey Price turned away 32-of-33 shots sent his way by the Leafs. The score was 1-1 after the first period and it remained that way until Raphael Diaz and Lars Eller scored in the third period for Montreal.

Matthew Lombardi provided the lone offense for Toronto, while Jonas Gustavsson made 20 saves in defeat.

"We started the game well and really took the pace to them. But as the game went on, it just kinda became a game of 'who's gonna make a mistake first,'" said Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf. "We were the ones who broke and we'll have to move on."

Toronto enters tonight just two points behind Washington for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. The Maple Leafs have missed the postseason in each of the last six springs, marking the longest playoff drought in the franchise's lengthy history.

The Maple Leafs have won three of four in the series against the Islanders overall and they are 4-0-2 in the last six encounters at Air Canada Centre.