NEW YORK _ On his 23rd birthday, Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev gave himself the present he wanted most on Sunday: A 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Garden in the final game of a season-long, five-game homestand.
Georgiev, starting in place of Henrik Lundqvist, had to work, though. The Bulgarian-born goalie made a career-high 55 saves as the Rangers closed out the homestand with a 2-2-1 record. It is the second most saves in a regular-season game in franchise history. Mike Richter made 59 saves on Jan. 31, 1991.
According to the Rangers' stats and information Twitter account, Georgiev is the seventh Rangers goaltender who has made at least 50 saves in a game since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 1955-56, along with Gump Worsley, Jacques Plante, Gilles Villemure, Glen Hanlon, Mike Richter, and Henrik Lundqvist.
Adam McQuaid's second goal of the season _ and second in four games _ gave the Rangers the insurance goal they desperately needed at 11:59 of the third period, relieving the intense pressure the Leafs were keeping on Georgiev.
Mika Zibanejad, at 28 seconds of the first period, and Jimmy Vesey, at 14:05 of the first period, had sandwiched around a goal by Kasperi Kapanen to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Kevin Hayes added an empty-net goal with 19.4 seconds left as the Rangers improved to 24-23-8.
After two games out of the lineup as a healthy scratch, defenseman Neal Pionk was back in, with coach David Quinn opting to sit out fourth-line forward Vinni Lettieri and go with the 11-forward, seven-defenseman alignment.
It was the fifth time this season that the Rangers have played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, and the last two times they did it _ against the Flyers Jan. 29 (a 1-0 loss) and the Kings Feb. 4 (a 4-3 OT loss) _ the team didn't look as badly out of sync as the first two times Quinn tried it, which the coach admitted did make it easier for him to go to that look.
"I'm getting more comfortable with it, for sure," Quinn said of the 11-and-7 look. "Again, you just got to put your best lineup out there, regardless of positions. I'd prefer not to do it, but I am getting more comfortable with it, and I think our guys are getting a little more comfortable with it, too."
As for Pionk, who spent most of the season as the team's No. 1 defenseman before his play started to slip, he said while it was difficult to sit out, he believes the time spent watching games from above the ice was beneficial.
"I think the thing that jumps out for me when I watch the games or when I watch video is, sometimes you have more time than you think," he said. "Actually, a lot of times."
Having played Saturday night, the Maple Leafs seemed a little sluggish at the start and the Rangers took advantage, with that red-hot top line getting the home team on the board just 28 seconds into the game. Chris Kreider won the puck behind the net and fed Mats Zuccarello in the low slot. Zuccarello had two shots that were kicked out by Toronto goalie Garret Sparks before Zibanejad banged in the rebound for his 23rd goal of the season and his sixth in six games. The goal gave Zibanejad 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in the last 12 games. Zuccarello, who assisted on McQuaid's goal, has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his last 11 games, while Kreider, who assisted on Vesey's goal, has 11 points in his last 11 (four goals, seven assists).
A giveaway by Tony DeAngelo sprang Kapanen for a breakaway and he scored his 16th goal of the season at 10:35 of the first period to tie it at 1, but right after the Rangers killed a penalty to Kreider for Interference, Kreider came out of the penalty box to set up Vesey for the goal that put the Rangers back into the lead at 14:05.
