New York Rangers: Georgiev stars in big 4-1 win against the Maple Leafs

The New York Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 despite being outshot 56-30.  Alexandar Georgiev was simply spectacular in goal.

The New York Rangers were definitely the underdogs going into this game, but somehow pulled off a victory despite a dominating offensive display by the Maple Leafs who did everything but put the puck in the net. It was a fabulous performance by Alexandar Georgiev who was celebrating his 23rd birthday.  In the spirit of the Grammys, we will be naming our stars the Grammys of the game but first here is a breakdown of the game period by period.

First period

The first period got off to a fast start as the Rangers stunned the Maple Leafs by scoring only 28 seconds into the game.  Mika Zibanejad put in a rebound on assists from Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider. It was the fastest goal at the start of a game by the Rangers this season.

At 10:35, the Maple Leafs then responded with an unassisted goal by Kasperi Kapanen, with a snipe of a shot off the left post. It came after a ghastly giveaway by Tony DeAngelo who made a blind pass at the offensive zone blue that was intercepted by Kapanen who had a breakway.

Less than four minutes later, the Rangers took the lead with a goal from Jimmy Vesey on a beautiful pass from Kreider who had just left the penalty box. Kreider received the pass from Ryan Strome and got the puck to Vesey who hit the top corner to beat Garret Sparks.

The period ended with the Rangers on top 2-1, but outshot by the Maple Leafs 22-14.   The Leafs had an incredible 16 shots on two power plays and Georgiev singlehandedly kept the Rangers in the game. The Rangers actually had a good first period when not killing penalties with an even strength Corsi of 58%.

Second Period

In an uneventful second period, the most excitement came from a Neal Pionk fight with Zach Hyman, where he got rag dolled. Georgiev had another great period as the Rangers were outshot 17-9.  They again had to kill off two penalties and Toronto had seven shots on their two power plays. The Blueshirts did a good job of keeping Toronto on the perimeter and Georgiev had a good look at most of the shots.

Grammy Awards

With the first Grammy (star) of the night, Alexander Georgiev. With 55 saves tonight Georgiev is well deserving of this Grammy for Goaltender of the Night. Not allowing any goals in after the first period Georgiev easily played his best game of the season. In a bizarre bit of trivia, Georgiev became the second goalie in NHL history to have over 50 saves on his birthday since they started keeping track over 30 years ago.  The other?  Henrik Lundqvist last season.

The second Grammy of the night goes to Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello had two assists on the night, along with three shots on goal and two hits. The Grammy of best forward of the night definitely goes to Zuccarello.

The last Grammy of the night goes to Adam McQuaid for defenseman of the night. McQuaid was all over the score sheet tonight with a goal in the third period. He also had two shots on net, two hits and three blocked shots. Also, he contributed almost three minutes on the penalty kill.

With the win, the Rangers climb within seven points of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild card spot.  It also moves them nine points ahead of the last place Ottawa Senators.