TORONTO — Mika Zibanejad scored twice and Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves because the New York Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night time.
Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin additionally scored for New York (22-7-1), which owns the very best file within the Eastern Conference. Former Leafs defenseman Erik Gustafsson and Blake Wheeler each had three assists.
The red-hot Auston Matthews replied with each objectives to provide him an NHL-best 25 for Toronto (16-7-6) after sitting out Saturday with the flu. William Nylander picked up an help to stretch his level streak to 9 video games.
“Good game in a lot of different areas,” Matthews stated. “Three goals, three fluky bounces, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.”
Martin Jones stopped 31 pictures for the Leafs, who noticed a nine-game level streak (6-0-3) that included a 7-3 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12 come to an finish.
“Really hard-fought game,” Schneider stated. “They make you pay if you’re not executing.”
PHOTOS: Rangers snap Maple Leafs’ 9-game level streak with 5-2 win
Shesterkin allowed six objectives on 29 pictures in that ugly defeat, however was strong on this night time.
“Better start,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette stated. “They pressed the whole night.”
Jones suffered his first lack of 2023-24 after going 3-0-0 with a .949 save proportion since being recalled from the minors.
“A couple of tough bounces,” he stated. “But for me, the (Schneider) goal is the disappointing one. I’d like to play that a little different in that time in the game.
“Who knows what could have happened after that?”
Down 2-1 by way of 40 minutes, Matthews received Toronto again even 1:16 into the third interval when he pinged his second aim of the night time, twenty fifth of the season, and eleventh within the middle’s final seven video games upstairs.
“Didn’t miss a beat,” Keefe stated. “When he’s getting the puck around the slot, he’s got lots of confidence and he’s finding holes.”
But Schneider burst into the offensive zone and fired by way of the pads on Jones for his second at 8:08 to snap a 22-game drought.
“I just thought he was gonna pull it to the middle,” Jones stated of the Rangers defenseman. “I went for a little poke check. Credit to him, he had his head up.”
Leafs captain John Tavares was honored with an on-ice ceremony alongside his household earlier than the opening faceoff for reaching 1,000 profession factors final week. The 33-year-old is the 98th participant in NHL historical past to achieve the milestone. Leafs legend Darryl Sittler, who had 1,121 profession factors, introduced Tavares with a golden stick for the achievement.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Host Edmonton on Friday night time to open a three-game homestand.
Maple Leafs: At Buffalo on Thursday night time to open a two-game journey.
