New York Rangers vs Toronto Maple Leafs: A rock solid 5-3 win
By Steve Paulus
The game
The game got off to a tough start in the first period when John Tavares scored 7:36 into the match. It was a quick breakout for the Maple Leafs and Tavares had a wide open shot off a rebound of a William Nylander shot.
The Rangers answered right back with Filip Chytil knotting the score just 1:14 after Tavares scored.
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Anthony DeAngelo made the goal when he accepted the puck at the blue line, skated deep into the zone and made a perfect pass to a wide open Chytil who tapped it into the open net.
Let in the period it was magic time as
and Chris Kreider scored goals within six seconds of each other.
The first goal was a set play with Chris Kreider winning the faceoff and and feeding Zibanajed who lasered it past Michael Hutchinson. The second goal was off a center ice faceoff win by Zibanejad who fed a streaking Kreider who undressed the Leafs’ goalie and put a backhand into an open net.
The Maple Leafs had to be wondering what was going on as the period ended with the Blueshirts up 3-1.
The second period was mostly scoreless, but at times it felt like the ice as tilted in Toronto’s favor. They finally got on board when Auston Matthews scored with just over three minutes left in the period. It was the kid line on the ice and they let Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson win a puck battle behind the net and Johnsson fed a wide open Matthews who fired a backhand by Shesterkin. It was the speed of Matthews’ shot that fooled the Ranger goalie. He was still looking behind him when the Leaf received the puck and shot the puck.
Once again, the Rangers answered right back with Pavel Buchnevich putting the Blueshirts up by two goals again.
It was a bang bang play with Kreider winning the board battle and feeding Zibanejad who made a touch pass to Buchnevich who fired between Hutchinson’s legs. It was huge goal for the Rangers as they came out of a period that they had been dominated with the same two goal lead.
They did need some heroics from Shesterkin who stopped a point black Zack Hyman shot with a pad save.
The third period was rock solid for the Blueshirts. They kept the Maple Leafs on the perimeter and blocked more shots than got through to Shesterkin. When Greg McKegg was called for a hooking penalty with a little over four minutes left in the game, the Maple Leafs went to work and Matthews put his 39th goal in the net off a fantastic passing play.
The Leafs pulled their goalie, but never were able to get set up in the Rangers’ zone and that led to a two on one breakout with the net empty. Buchnevich passed to McKegg who had an easy goal.
As this was happening, Jacob Trouba and Zach Hyman were exchanging punches after a Hyman cross check. The referees reviewed the goal to see if the whistle had blown, but Trouba had waited until he knew McKegg had the open net before beginning his bashing of Hyman.
With the two goal lead restored it was time to see if they could get Shesterkin the puck for another try at a goal, but he thought better of it and kept the puck on the boards as time ran out.
It was a decisive win and the opposite of what happened in December when the Leafs scored two third period goals to send the game to overtime with the Rangers eventually winning.