Two games were featured on the NHL schedule from Sunday night including the New York Rangers hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden.
The Leafs have been playing well of late and had won three straight entering Sunday’s match.
But Mats Zuccarello scored with 56 seconds left in regulation to lift the Rangers to a 4-3 win.
“We’ve got nine [wins] in a row right now and you feel it in the room, everyone is comfortable, it’s not that tight,” Zuccarello said. “I have some good bounces going in right now. Hopefully it’s going to last. We are nine wins in a row right now and that’s the most important thing.”
The Rangers have won nine straight now and have points in 13 games.
Derick Brassard, Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh also scored for the Rangers.
“I don’t know if there is a guy playing better hockey right now in the NHL than Mats Zuccarello,” Stepan said.
Antti Raanta made 23 saves for the win; Jonathan Bernier made 26 saves in the Leafs’ net.
“We had got points in quite a few games, but to drop this one tonight [is disappointing], especially the way we did at the end there, when we thought we had the game well in control,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said.
But the talk focused on Zuccarello who also had two assists for his night’s efforts.
“You ask any forward, they go through stretches where they’re really feeling it and things seem to be happening the way you see it, and right now that’s the way it is with [Zuccarello],” McDonagh said. “You get him the puck and he’s making high percentage plays, sometimes the play no one else can make.”
“He’s playing real well and his enthusiasm is contagious,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “There’s no doubt he is well liked and well respected by his teammates, and I think everyone is happy that he’s playing so well right now.”
In Chicago, the Blackhawks were led by Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa who each had a goal and one assist in a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Scott Darling made 25 saves in a rare start in the Hawks cage.
“Last start I’d had, I didn’t play well,” said Darling, who made seven saves to help kill two Calgary power plays in the second period. “When you’re dwelling on it for two weeks, you’re really excited to get back in the net and make the most of this opportunity. It’s not fun to sit there and think about it. You don’t have the luxury of just playing again and moving on and forgetting about it.”
Artemi Panarin and Jonathan Toews also scored for Chicago who playing the second of two-in-two, having beaten the St Louis Blues Saturday.
“That was probably our best two games back-to-back, and the consistency we always look for was right there,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said after watching the Blackhawks overcome a 1-0 deficit in the second period with three goals in 1:55. “We had some more four-line rotation going on, where we had some predictability, timely goals, some nice plays, and I thought across the board everybody contributed.”
After David Jones gave the Flames a 1-0 lead in the second it was all Chicago.
“They use their speed to their advantage,” Flames coach Bob Hartley said. “They caught us in a few good plays on their side and a few tough decisions on ours. Here’s a team that, as soon as they get a good chance, you know that they’ll capitalize on them, and they did.”
The Flames fell to 6-12-1 on the season.
“I think they did a good job of using their [defensemen] and using the cycle,” Calgary captain Mark Giordano said. “Kane and [Panarin], when they got the puck tonight, it seemed like they had it forever, and we just didn’t do a good enough job of reading and reacting and killing plays early. Bottom line is, you give them time, they’re going to make plays, and that’s what they did.”
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