NEW YORK — Noel Acciari’s goal at 12:21 of the third period gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in the Blueshirts’ regular-season finale.
Filip Chytil appeared to tie it with 1.9 seconds remaining and the Rangers’ net empty for an extra skater, but after video review, Chytil’s goal was waved off because he kicked the puck in.
The Rangers will begin the playoffs next week on the road against the Devils, who finished second in the Metropolitan Division after Carolina beat Florida, 6-4, Thursday night to clinch the division title. The Devils beat the Capitals, 5-4, in overtime.
This will be the first playoff series between the Rangers (47-22-13) and Devils (52-22-8) since 2012.
Kaapo Kakko’s goal at 1:38 of the second period opened the scoring, but Toronto tied it on a goal by Timothy Liljegren at 3:08 of the third. Artemi Panarin’s power-play goal put the Rangers back in front at 6:26. But William Nylander tied it with his 40th goal of the season at 7:48.
