NHL: Toronto 5, N.Y. Islanders 4 (SO)

UNIONDALE, N.Y., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Tim Stapleton, playing in his first NHL game, scored the decisive shootout goal Thursday night to give Toronto a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders.

The Maple Leafs let a two-goal lead slip away in the third period and wound up playing in overtime for the fifth straight game (3

The contest was tied at 2-2 early in the third period when Pavel Kubina and Nik Antropov produced goals that appeared to have wrapped things up for the Maple Leafs. Mark Streit, however, brought the Islanders within one with 8:31 to play in regulation and Jon Sim tied it with 3:07 remaining.

Each side produced one goal during the first two rounds of the shootout before Stapleton fired a low shot that rang off the right post and past Joey MacDonald.

Vesa Toskala made 40 saves to earn the victory. MacDonald stopped 29 shots for the Islanders, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

Sean Bergenheim and Dean McAmmond scored goals and Bill Guerin had one assist for New York, giving him 799 points in his NHL career.