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New York Rangers: Going for 2 in a row in Toronto

By Steve Paulus

TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 22: Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers battles against Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on December 22, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 22: Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers battles against Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on December 22, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 10: The general view of the scoreboard showing that Toronto had sent 55 shots on Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers with just two minutes left to play at Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Maple Leafs 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 10: The general view of the scoreboard showing that Toronto had sent 55 shots on Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers with just two minutes left to play at Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Maple Leafs 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Head to head

This is the Rangers’ first trip to Toronto since December 28, 2019 when the team won 5-4 in overtime on a goal by Tony DeAngelo.  Only eight Rangers are left from the team that took the ice in that game.  Nine Maple Leafs who played in that game are still with the team.

The Rangers have won four of their last six games against the Maple Leafs, winning the last two season series.  The last time they lost a series was 2017-18 when they were swept by the Leafs.

The Rangers may be considering starting Alexandar Georgiev who had two of his best games in the NHL versus the Leafs.  The first was  4-1 win in February 2019 when he made 55 saves.  Less than a month later he had 44 saves as the Rangers beat the Leafs 2-1 in overtime in Toronto. In fact, three of his top four save totals have come against Toronto.

Despite those great games, his career numbers are not that great with a 3-2 record and 3.20 goals against average though his .929 save percentage is stellar.

Igor Shesterkin won the only start of his career against the Leafs, a 5-3 win on February 5,2020. Shesterkin had 27 saves with one of the Toronto goals coming on the power play.

Auston Matthews has had a lot of success against the Rangers with five goals and 12 points in 12 games.  John Tavares has 44 points in his 49 games against New York, most when he was an Islander.

Meanwhile, Artemi Panarin has 16 points in 13 games while Chris Kreider has 18 points in 19 games against the Leafs.

The Rangers have a winning record in the Scotiabank Arena with 19 wins in 35 games.

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