What do you get a young goaltender for his 23rd birthday?
Well, certainly you don’t offer up 56 shots on goal at work.
Mats Zuccarello had two assists in Rangers win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
But that’s what the New York Rangers did for Alexandar Georgiev on Sunday night.
Georgiev returned the favor and stopped 55 of those shots as the Rangers handed the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs a stunning 4-1 loss.
“It was a special birthday,” said Georgiev, who made 23 of his saves on the penalty kill. “I tried not to concentrate on the birthday wishes because I knew I had an important game in front of me, and I’m very happy it ended the way it ended.”
Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey, Adam McQuaid and Kevin Hayes backed up that effort with strikes for the Rangers.
“I think Georgie was feeling it right from the get-go,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said, “and unfortunately we forced him to feel it on that first penalty kill with the way they were tic-tac-toeing that puck around.”
The Rangers improved to 24-23-8.
Kasperi Kapanen struck for the Leafs only goal.
“He (Georgiev) made some huge saves,” the Maple Leafs’Â Mitchell Marner said. “I mean, a lot of those power play ones weren’t just first opportunity; we had a lot of second and thirds that he made some good saves on. He played a [heck] of a game for them.”
The Maple Leafs dropped to 34-18-3.
“There was lots of chances on the power play, obviously, but I thought we had a lot of good players here tonight,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “It’s not like I could go through it and say, ‘This guy didn’t play good.’ That wasn’t the case. We played good.”
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Rangers highlights]
Garret Sparks made 26 saves in the loss.
“Their goaltender stole the show. That’s going to happen, especially on the road. I think we played a pretty solid road game, just all the pucks seemed to be hitting him. Just one of those things,” Nazem Kadri said after the loss.
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