It was no coincidence that Andrew Raycroft's return to action coincided with a return to the win column for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Fully recovered from a groin injury, Raycroft returned following a three-game absence and made 19 saves to backstop the Maple Leafs to a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders in front of 19,392 fans at the Air Canada Centre on Monday.

Rick DiPietro, right, is despondent as the Maple Leafs celebrate a 4-2 win.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

Raycroft is credited with 10 of Toronto's 12 wins this season.

Kyle Wellwood had one goal and one assist, while Nik Antropov added two assists for the Maple Leafs (12-6-4), who were coming off consecutive 2-1 losses to the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils.

Rookie John Pohl, Darcy Tucker and Alexei Ponikarovsky scored Toronto's other goals.

"We came and had a strong start," Tucker said. "We could have definitely played better in the third period."

"We weren't handing out roses after this one," noted Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice. "We didn't play the way I wanted in the third period.

"Clearly, there was not enough profanity on the bench early in the game. I did a nice job of fixing that in the third."

Chris Simon and Jason Blake replied for the Islanders (9-7-3), winners in three of their previous four games.

Rick DiPietro tried to earn his keep, counting 29 stops in defeat.

"Any time you play on the road and allow three early, it's tough to come back," said DiPietro, who raised eyebrows by signing a 15-year, $67.5-million US contract extension on Sept. 12 — the longest in NHL history.

"We just came out flat in the first [period]. We kind of reverted back to the same things we did in previous years."

New York completed its five-game trek at 3-1-1.

"We could have made it a great road trip," DiPietro said. "We failed to capitalize on another two points."

Pohl vaults Leafs into lead

Toronto took a 1-0 lead 2:53 into the contest as Pohl converted Wade Belak's centring pass for his second goal of the season, but Simon responded with his second at the 5:23 mark.

Wellwood put the Maple Leafs back in front 51 seconds later, potting his third off a nifty setup from Antropov.

Tucker increased it to 3-1 as he ripped Tomas Kaberle's pass by DiPietro for his 13th, a power-play goal at 9:23 of the first period.

"I've been open and I've been finding a lot of open spots," said Tucker, who tops the NHL with 10 power-play goals.

Blake cut the deficit to 3-2 with a power-play goal of his own, finishing off a terrific tic-tac-toe passing play from Alexei Yashin and Mike Sillinger for his 11th with 3:59 left in the second period.

Ponikarovsky completed the scoring with the man advantage and 1:09 remaining, tallying his eighth on a backhand shot during a scramble in front.

"We never quit," DiPietro said. "But I don't think anyone is satisfied with that effort." 

Of note, Maple Leafs defenceman Bryan McCabe notched an assist to extend his point streak to six games.

With files from the Canadian Press