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Reaves stars in 6-3 comeback win

By Steve Paulus

Jan 19, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers right wing Ryan Reaves (75) celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs with defenseman Ryan Lindgren (55) and defenseman Adam Fox (23) during the first period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers right wing Ryan Reaves (75) celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs with defenseman Ryan Lindgren (55) and defenseman Adam Fox (23) during the first period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 19: Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers celebrates his third period game winning goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on January 19, 2022 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Maple Leafs 6-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 19: Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers celebrates his third period game winning goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on January 19, 2022 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Maple Leafs 6-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Notes on the game

With the win, the Rangers are 26-10-4 and back in first place in the Metropolitan Division.  It sets up a great meeting with the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Friday.

The Rangers 56 points is third most in the NHL, two more than Carolina though the Hurricanes have four games in hand.

They have now won three in a row and seven of their last nine.

Their six goals was the most they have scored in a game this season, tying the six goals they scored against Chicago in December.

Though they were trailing, the Rangers had numerous opportunities to get on the board.  Filip Chytil was stopped in the first period and Panarin and Strome in the second.

With his three points, Adam Fox is one point behind Victor Hedman for the scoring lead among defensemen.   His 35 assists are the second most in the entire NHL, tied with Nazem Kadri and three points behind Jonathan Huberdeau of the Panthers.

Artemi Panarin’s two assists moved him into a tie for 15th in the overall scoring race.

Chris Kreider’s 25 goals puts him two behind Alex Ovechkin who leads the league with 27 and one behind Leon Draisaitl who is second.

This was the second two-goal game of Ryan Reaves’ career.  He did it the first time for the St. Louis Blues in April 2013 in a 4-1 win over Calgary.

The Rangers outhit the Maple Leafs 31-12 with Reaves leading the Rangers with five hits. The outhit the Leafs 22-6 over the final two periods. It worked.

Igor Shesterkin allowed three goals on 11 shots in the first period. He stopped the next 27 shots finishing with 35 saves on 38 shots.

Jacob Trouba made one of his patented big hits in the second period against Morgan Rielly.

Pavel Bure and Steve Yzerman can rest easy since the Rangers stopped Auston Matthews’ road goal scoring streak at 10 games, one short of their record.  Matthews had two shots on goal and it was a close one, but he definitely kicked the puck into the net on his disallowed goal in the third period

Although the Rangers allowed an early power play goal, the penalty kill was outstanding the rest of the game, holding the Leafs to only four shots on their last three power plays. They have now allowed only five goals in their last 67 times shorthanded, a 92% success rate.

The Rangers were dreadful on faceoffs in the first period, losing 15 of 20 draws.  The totally flipped their performance, going 24-20 the rest of the way.

The Rangers concluded their season series with the Maple Leafs with a 2-1 record. The split the first two games by identical 2-1 scores.

The Rangers evened their national television record a 2-2.

The Rangers are 11-2-0 against the Atlantic Division, getting 22 of 26 possible points.  Against the Eastern Conference, they are 17-3-0, with 34 of 40 possible points.

They were called for a too many men penalty for the third time this season and have killed all three penalties.  Last season they had seven such penalties in 56 games, eight in 70 games in 2019-20 and 14 in the full 2018-19 season.

We’ve been pretty critical of the TNT telecasts and tonight was better than opening night.  It was good to have Kenny Albert doing the play-by-play though Keith Jones was relatively obnoxious.  They are trying some interesting features.  During power plays, they digitally display the penalty time on the ice in each team’s zone, a nice touch.  When a slapshot is taken they occasionally show the speed of the shot over the goalie’s head.  The less said about the intermission segments  the better.

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