The Islanders have hardly gotten anything out of too many of their forwards, but Shane Prince has been an unlikely bright spot lately, including in a 5-1 win over Toronto on Sunday night.
Prince helped put the game away in the third period, scoring the team’s third goal when Toronto goalie Jhonas Enroth couldn’t handle the puck behind the net, setting up Prince — and then Prince fed Brock Nelson to seal the victory and make it 4-1 just over two minutes later.
It spoiled Matt Martin’s return to Brooklyn, although the former Islander enforcer did create a power play in the second.
The Islanders overcame that, in part because of Prince and Nelson — much to the relief of John Tavares, who has carried much of the load for the offense.
“There are some things we can get better at,’’ Tavares said. “Any team that goes far in the playoffs gets contributions from everywhere.”
Coach Jack Capuano was looking for contributions from anywhere for a team that had been held to three goals or less in all but one of its first eight games prior to Sunday.
“It was good to see us roll four lines and score five goals,” Capuano said. “We want to play with pace and tonight we played with pace. We stayed in attack mode.”
They took a two-goal lead in the first, with Travis Hamonic scoring just 61 seconds into the game, following chances by Nikolay Kulemin and Nick Leddy. Hamonic’s slap shot made it 1-0.
While scoring from the forwards has been an issue throughout the early part of the season, the Islanders have gotten significant production from their defensemen so far. It was Hamonic’s second goal of the year.
Casey Cizikas made it 2-0 later in the first, knocking in a rebound off a shot by Cal Clutterbuck at 7:22.
Thomas Greiss stopped 33 shots, but Toronto made it 2-1 on a power-play goal 50 seconds into the seconds.
Prince quickly made it 3-1 to give the Isles a cushion again.
“It was big for us to respond,” Prince said.
Capuano continued to juggle his lines, looking for a wing to play alongside Tavares and Josh Bailey.
Andrew Ladd has already been shifted to two different lines as he looks for his first goal as an Islander. He was unable to put home several chances Sunday. And Ladd’s temporary replacement on the first line, rookie Anthony Beauvillier, wasn’t at his best against the Maple Leafs.
“That was the first time [Beauvillier] has struggled a little bit on that line,” Capuano said of the 19-year-old. “It’s tough. It’s a fast game and as you go, you’re trying to find the right combinations as a staff. [Beauvillier] has been great for us. Is he the right fit for [Tavares]? I don’t know. We have to go about our business and find the right fit.”
What Capuano did like was Nikolay Kulemin’s presence on the fourth line with Clutterbuck and Cizikas after a two-game absence.
Cizikas scored his first goal and Bailey his second.
“Tonight we broke out for five [goals],” Capuano said. “We’d been stale, scoring just a couple goals a game the last few games. We’re gonna need some offense.”