TORONTO – The second meeting between the Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs found both teams in different (and better) spots than the first time the teams played, back on Oct. 18, in what was the fourth game of the season for the Rangers.
Both teams entered Thursday on four-game win streaks, and feeling good about themselves, and the game was a pretty evenly contested affair with few mistakes for either side. Ultimately, the Leafs got two goals from defenseman Morgan Rielly and that was the difference as Toronto beat the Rangers, 2-1.
The loss dropped the Rangers to 10-4-3 on the season, while Toronto improved to 12-5-1. The Blueshirts now come home for a game Sunday against the surprising Buffalo Sabres at the Garden. They were supposed to have stayed in Ontario for a game in Ottawa Saturday against the Senators, but it was postponed because the Senators are battling a COVID breakout on their team. Ottawa had three games postponed this week.
In the first game between the Rangers and Leafs, on Oct. 18, Igor Shesterkin stole the show, making 40 saves to keep the Rangers in the game before Artemi Panarin scored in overtime to give the Rangers the victory. It was the second win in what turned out to a sweep of a four-game road trip.
Thursday, though, things went a little differently. The Maple Leafs scored the game’s first goal at 3:41 of the first period when Rielly’s left point shot went through the screen created by Jacob Trouba and Michael Bunting battling in front of Shesterkin (28 saves). They made it 2-0 when Rielly scored his second goal of the game, on the power play at 10:59 of the second period.
There wasn’t much to separate the teams in the first period, with the Rangers owning a 7-5 edge in shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes. But the Leafs slowly began to take control in the middle period, dominating possession and building a 12-7 shots advantage.
The Rangers got some good work out of their third line, with Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Julien Gauthier forechecking and backchecking with ferocity, and Gauthier generating a couple of scoring chances driving to the net. Gauthier, who scored his first goal of the season in Tuesday’s shootout win over Montreal, had a game-high five shots on goal through the first two periods.
That line had played a strong game Tuesday, and impressed Rangers coach Gerard Gallant with their hustle, and though that third line has seen several different combinations, Gallant said there was a chance Lafreniere, Chytil and Gauthier could stay together for a while, especially with Sammy Blais lost for the season to an ACL tear.
"As long as they play the way they played last game (they can stay together),’’ Gallant said at Thursday’s morning skate. "They played great. They have real good scoring chances, and you know Julian scored a big goal. So, I really like the way that line played.’’
Toronto native Ryan Strome seemed particularly agitated, and was throwing his body around and playing with desperation for the Rangers, but the Rangers had difficulty slowing Toronto’s Auston Matthews, who was dangerous all night. Strome had a couple incidents with Toronto’s Michael Bunting, and nearly fought with him in the third period, but the officials wouldn’t let the two players go at it.
The Rangers did get on the board, eventually, when Dryden Hunt scored his first goal of the season, and first as a Ranger, banging in the rebound of a Strome shot at 3:30 of the third period.
That was all they would get, however. Toronto goalie Jack Campbell was up to the task, stopping 26 of 27 shots.
