Recap: Rangers Get Shown Up By Toronto, Lose 7-3

The Rangers played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs for their first meeting of the season. The Leafs came into the second half of a back-to-back after dropping the extra point in an overtime loss on Long Island last night. The Rangers looked to build off their big win against the Kings on Sunday. One change to the lineup as K’Andre Miller would be out of the mix due to personal reasons. No further details were provided but hopefully whatever it is, isn’t anything too serious and he and his family are alright. Erik Gustafsson would bump up to the left side of Jacob Trouba with Zac Jones slotting in with Braden Schneider.

1st Period:

The Leafs had a couple good chances right out the gate with their best on an errant pass from Jonny Brodzinski that ended up close to the Rangers own net. Jake McCabe then drew a penalty on Blake Wheeler at the other end of the ice but as the Leafs came back with the puck, William Nylander made a couple of really smooth plays to work his way around the Rangers skaters then found Auston Matthews on the opposite side of the ice to put a quick shot past Shesterkin to make it a 1-0 game early on.

The goal negated what would have been a penalty on the Rangers Very soon after, Connor Timmins put a clean shot from the point on net right off the face-off that beat Shesterkin again to make it a 2-0 game.

Luckily, the Rangers were quick to answer again on a play right off a face-off. Adam Fox fed a pass to Chris Kreider right in the slot which Martin Jones was able to turn away. The puck landed right on the stick of Blake Wheeler and while the initial shot wouldn’t go through, it would hit off Leafs defender T.J. Brodie and go in to cut the Leafs lead in half, 2-1.

Toronto would still end up getting the game’s first power play as Mika Zibanejad was called for tripping David Kampf up in the corner. A bit of a shoving match ensued as it looked to be a bit of a dive on Kampf’s end but nevertheless, the Leafs headed to the power play. The Rangers penalty killers did a good job of holding off the man advantage and for a brief moment in time, the game settled down a bit.

Mika Zibanejad had a real good chance off a beautiful pass from Blake Wheeler but as he cut from his forehand to his backhand, Martin Jones was able to get his stick on it to help break the play up. While that happened, the Rangers also drew the Leafs first penalty of the night as Jake McCabe would be sent off for hooking. The Rangers had a strong showing with the man advantage but wouldn’t capitalize which would prove to be a major missed opportunity in that opening period.

With just under five minutes to go, the Rangers could not manage to get a hold of the puck in their own zone and after a couple saves from Igor, Calle Jarnkrok was able to put a rebound past him to make it a 3-1 game. Just 21 seconds later, a Rangers turnover in the neutral zone led to a beautiful passing play between Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner that Igor didn’t stand a chance on to extend their lead 4-1.

After the games first twenty the Rangers were down 4-1 and being out-shot 11-3. On top of that, the Rangers only won 6 of 21 face-offs which resulted in them really struggling to maintain any puck possession or generate offense of any kind. They looked good on their one power play attempt but weren’t able to capitalize which inevitably resulted in the Leafs extending their lead quite substantially.

2nd Period:

It took the Rangers a couple minutes to get going but they were finally able to spark some offense. Nick Bonino ended up on a partial breakaway but ran out of room to pull off the move he started which resulted in Martin Jones eating the puck up. On that next shift, Tyler Pitlick had a really good chance cutting all alone to the slot where Martin Jones made a great save on a forehand-backhand move. Through the first half of the second, the Rangers were playing much better, maintaining far more puck possession than they had in the games opening period.

The Rangers slowly but surely continued plugging away at the Leafs and found ways to generate opportunities but Martin Jones continued coming up with the saves. After what became the Rangers tenth shot on goal, Chris Kreider got tangled up with Leafs defenseman William Lagesson which resulted in matching roughing penalties, prompting two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.

With five minutes to go in the period, the Rangers drew another Toronto penalty which sent Connor Timmins to the box for hooking. This team needed to get something going if they wanted to have any hope in staying involved in this one and after a patient effort from that top power play unit, Mika Zibanejad let a one timer go from down low to make it a 4-2 game.

With the primary assist on the goal, Artemiy Panarin picks up his 700th career point, becoming the 38th fastest player in league history to accomplish that feat. As they said on the MSG broadcast, not bad for an undrafted player.

In the final minutes of the period, Igor Shesterkin was forced to come up with another big save on the doorstep to keep the score close. As the Rangers went the other way with it, Blake Wheeler let a rocket of a wrist shot go to beat Jones on the glove side for his second of the night to bring the Rangers within one, 4-3.

The milestones continued as Jacob Trouba picked up his 300th career point with an assist on Wheeler’s goal.

The narrative certainly flipped in the second period as the Rangers out-shot the Leafs 15-8 and controlled most of the play. While they were still being out-worked in face-offs, they were able to capitalize on special teams and had an all around jump in their play that got them to a point where it was anyone’s game for the taking.

3rd Period:

The Leafs came real close to getting back on the board to start the period as Igor Shesterkin came up with a beautiful save on Mitch Marner on the doorstep. The rebound ended up right on the stick of Tyler Bertuzzi and with a wide open net to shoot at, Jacob Trouba made a desperation diving play to get in front and block the shot.

While it was a picture perfect play by Trouba, Erik Gustafsson would pick up a penalty on a weak tripping call, sending the Leafs back to the power play. Just six seconds into the man advantage, Mitch Marner got his stick on a shot from Morgan Rielly at the point to deflect it in to make it a 5-3 game.

All the momentum the Rangers were able to rebuild from this point took a major hit as play began to slow down once again. Just over the midway point of the final period of regulation, Ryan Lindgren took a massive hit from Jake McCabe which prompted Mika Zibanejad to go after the Leafs defender. Gloves didn’t drop which resulted in coincidental minors with an additional penalty going to Zibanejad for instigating.

The Leafs were still hunting on the power play but it was Igor Shesterkin continuing to come up with key saves doing everything he can to keep his team in it. The Rangers weren’t able to get back on track once the Leafs picked up that fifth goal and with just under three minutes to go in the game, Auston Matthews picked up his own rebound for his second of the night to extend their lead once more.

The Rangers pulled Igor for the extra attacker but very quickly gave up the empty net goal as David Kampf outskated a delayed icing and put the puck in to make it a 7-3 game. A rather disappointing effort on the Rangers end as they really let this one get away from them in the opening period and ran out of time to find their way back into it. Final tally on shots on goal would be 31-30 in favor of the Rangers. Offensively, they had their moments but they really got away from that strong defensive style of play they exemplified against the Kings over the weekend.

The Rangers will look to get back on track as they’re back at it on home ice Friday night to host the Anaheim Ducks.