NEW YORK _ There were boos and chants, of course, with John Tavares remaining Public Enemy No. 1 in the minds of Islanders' fans. But the vitriol was much more subdued than his first return and Tavares quieted the sellout crowd further with what proved to be the winning goal to help his new team clinch a playoff berth.
In the process, the Islanders' chances of finishing first in the Metropolitan Division were severely diminished while they are now at greater risk of not locking up home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs held on for a 2-1 win on Monday night before a crowd of 13,917 at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum in the regular season home-finale. Jordan Eberle's power-play goal at 14:55 of the third halved the Islanders' deficit but the furious late rally fell short.
The Islanders (46-27-7) remained three points behind the first-place Capitals, who lost at Florida on Monday night, with each team having two games left. The third-place Penguins are two points back with three games left.
Robin Lehner made 36 saves. Frederik Andersen stopped 28 shots for the Maple Leafs (46-26-7).
Having clinched their first playoff berth since 2016 with Saturday's 5-1 win over the visiting Sabres, the Islanders are still looking to secure home-ice advantage for a playoff series for the first time since 1988.
"We're not out of the woods yet," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "We need to make sure we secure a good spot."
Tavares got his first point against his former team in three games when he turned an Islanders turnover into a short-side wrist shot from the left to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead at 3:50 of the third period. It extended his career high to 46 goals while also setting a career high with his 87th point.
But the boos and chants for Tavares II were tame compared to the Islanders' 6-1 win at the Coliseum on Feb. 28. That night, plastic snakes were thrown on the ice during pregame warmups and a jersey was hurled at Tavares as he came off the ice.
There were carryover chants of "We Don't Need You," but perhaps the most clever moment came when John Tonelli, who played for all four Islanders Stanley Cup winners from 1980-83, was introduced as one of the team's alumni in attendance. That brought a chant for "The Real JT."
The Islanders also won, 4-0, at Toronto on Dec. 29 with Lehner starting all three games.
The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead at 2:17 of the second period. Lehner refrained from smashing his stick across the left post in frustration after defenseman Calle Rosen's shot dipped through his pads after hitting a stick on its way in from the left point. It was Rosen's first NHL goal.
Lehner stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first period, including four on the Maple Leafs' power play off the period's only penalty as Tom Kuhnhackl held Tavares at 17:35. That included sliding to his right and getting his shoulder on Tyler Ennis' wide-open shot from low in the left circle at 18:46.
In the second period, Lehner gloved Tavares' shot off a three-on-one rush at 7:52.
Mathew Barzal had a chance for a breakaway in the final minute of the second period but defenseman Ron Hainsey came back and knocked the puck off Barzal's stick without drawing a penalty.
The Islanders also came up empty on back-to-back power plays in the second period as Nazem Kadri was called for roughing against Cal Clutterbuck at 9:35 and defenseman Morgan Rielly tripped Clutterbuck _ who had briefly gone to the Islanders' room after being punched from behind by Kadri _ at 11:46. The Islanders had just three shots over the four minutes of a man advantage.
