TORONTO -- The New York Islanders were surging, moving within one point of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the standings.

The Maple Leafs, who occupy a playoff spot that the Islanders covet, responded to the challenge Tuesday night.

With Auston Matthews scoring two goals, little-used Josh Leivo contributing a goal and two assists and Frederik Andersen sharp in goal, the Maple Leafs earned a 7-1 victory over the Islanders.

"As much as it's just one loss and we've got a big game Thursday (against the New York Rangers), it's a humbling loss, it's a butt-kicking," Islanders coach Doug Weight said. "They played a playoff game tonight. We played a hard game, but we didn't play a playoff game."

The Maple Leafs scored the first three goals of the game and led 3-1 entering the third before they putting the game away.

"I think we came out and just played the right way," Matthews said. "We played fast, just like our slogan says. When (we) do the right things, we're definitely a tough team to play against. It's definitely a much better start than we've gotten the last couple of games."

Islanders center John Tavares said, "In the third period, don't know if once we got down by three, the four (games) in six nights began to creep in. It wasn't our sharpest game. I think there's no question we didn't play great, but we had some opportunities earlier in the game to change what the third period was like."

Nazem Kadri and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who completed a four-game homestand at 2-1-1. Tyler Bozak and Matt Hunwick also scored for Toronto (26-18-11).

"(Andersen), I thought he was real solid," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought they were heavy and we didn't execute great early. I thought they were heavy on us, I thought we were good defensively, but they were heavy.

"I thought Freddy made some real good saves tonight and, you know, the better the goalie plays, the more you settle down, the more you dial in. Obviously, we scored timely goals, and then it got to be a real good situation (as in) most games in this league where you're grinding right to the bitter end."

Jason Chimera scored on a penalty shot for the Islanders (25-20-10), who are 8-3-2 since Weight replaced Jack Capuano as coach on Jan. 17.

Andersen, who made 33 saves, praised the way the team played in front of him.

"They were good," Andersen said. "They kept most of the shots to the outside, and that makes my job a lot easier. I think that way we can box them out and be first on retrieving pucks. That was good."

Thomas Greiss made 28 stops in the Islanders' net before being replaced by Jean-Francois Berube after the sixth Toronto goal. Berube stopped six of the seven shots he faced.

"We competed all night, Chimera got a big goal, we had some unbelievable chances," Weight said. "Andersen, a credit to him, played really well. We had some great chances, but we couldn't get that second goal."

Leivo scored his first goal of the season (unassisted) from the left circle at 11:36 of the first period to give Toronto 1-0 lead. The goal followed a giveaway by Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech. Leivo was playing his fifth game for Toronto this season after missing the first 25 with an injury.

The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead at 19:28 of the first on Kadri's 21st goal of the season. The center nudged home the puck after a shot by defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.

Nylander knocked in a rebound from Kadri's shot for his 15th goal of the season to give Toronto a 3-0 lead at 9:26 of the second.

The Islanders scored on a penalty shot by Chimera after it was ruled that he was impeded on a breakaway at 16:55 of the second.

"I thought then we were going to come back and win the game," said Chimera, who has 14 goals. "On the (power play) right after that, we had two really good looks. If it's 3-2 at that point, it's a different game going into the third period."

Matthews scored his first goal of the game on a rebound during a power play at 5:41 of the third period with Nikolay Kulemin serving a hooking penalty.

Toronto led 5-1 after Bozak scored his 14th goal of the season, converting a pass to the front of the net by James van Riemsdyk at 7:16 of the third.

Matthews scored his second goal of the game and his 27th of the season from the slot at 11:51.

Hunwick scored his first goal of the season on a deflected shot at 15:40.

NOTES: Islanders RW Cal Clutterbuck (lower-body injury) missed his sixth consecutive game. ... Maple Leafs RW Nikita Soshnikov (upper-body injury) did not play in his third straight game. ... The Islanders won the first two meetings this season in Brooklyn, 5-1 on Oct. 30 and 6-5 in overtime Feb. 6. ... The Islanders are on a nine-game point streak at home, going 7-0-2 during that span and outscoring their opponents 34-21. It is their longest home point streak in a season since 2003-04, when they had a 6-0-3 run. ... The Maple Leafs visit Columbus on Wednesday with former Blue Jackets G Curtis McElhinney expected to start. ... The Islanders play the New York Rangers on Thursday at Barclays Center.