Rangers gain point in 4-3 loss to Maple Leafs after penalties Lafreniere has goal and three points, Trocheck's double ties it late

In Toronto, the New York Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck scored off a nifty pass from Alexis Lafreniere to tie the the Maple Leafs, 3-3, with 67 seconds left in regulation on Saturday, forcing extra time which solved nothing. 

Max Domi was credited with the deciding goal on penalties for a 4-3 win to Toronto.

Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves in the win, making five of them in the extra session to hold off the Rangers’ push for the win. One of those was against Artemi Panarin who had a chance midway through the session.

“That was amazing,” Toronto’s Mitchell Marner said. “This game could be a very different result if ‘Sammy’ doesn’t make a couple big saves. So again tonight, he was massive, and it was good to hear the crowd give him some love.”

The Maple Leafs moved to 35-17-8.

“First, I like the two points,” Samsonov said. “We played together, we stayed hard fighting. It was an interesting game for fans, for everybody. Nice to get two points, probably first time for me in [a] shootout. Against [the] Rangers, those guys are doing very good in the shootout, so it was good for me.”

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 11:33 of the opening stanza on Alexis Lafrenière‘s 18th of the season, scoring off a wicked shot form the mid slot.

The Leafs’ Mitchell Marner knotted the game, 1-1, at 3:54 of the middle frame on a shot from the left side.

“I don’t know really what happened, to be honest,” Marner said. “Kind of the whole time I was trying to just take the puck across. I think the first time I tried to slide it five-hole and it slipped off a skate and came back to me luckily, so I took an extra step or two and thought I had the hole.”

Vincent Trocheck  hit for the first of his double on the night at 5:03, restoring the Rangers lead, 2-1.

William Nylander scored just over three minutes later to knot the 2-2 headed to the third period.

“‘Willy’ knows what we need from him, and in that moment (on the Lafreniere goal against), I met with that line yesterday on some very specific things, and that wasn’t it, so that’s the way it goes, but I loved how he responded,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Obviously, a great goal, an important goal for us, but I just thought he dug in and competed a lot harder.”

The e Rangers dropped to 40-17-4, they are 10-1-1 in their last dozen matches.

John Tavares looked to have taken the wind out of the Rangers’ sails when he struck at 7:17 of the third period to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead.

“I think it was just a good hockey game overall. We stuck with it once we grabbed the lead and then gave it up late, but we battled hard to win in the shootout,” Tavares said. “It was just a great job by everyone sticking with it and getting two points, which are big at this time of year.”

Trocheck rescued the Rangers from losing all points with his late heroics.

“I mean, the game, the whole regulation was hard-fought playoff style hockey, and so you’ve got to expect this last quarter of the season and into the playoffs, and we’ll get ready for that kind of hockey,” Trocheck said.

“I’m proud of the way we played. We played well and played well defensively against a team like that. That’s obviously true and important. … Anything can happen in the shootout, but proud of the way we played, but no moral victories when it comes to getting points.”

Lafreniere has two assists in the loss.

Igor Shesterkin made31 saves in the loss, his first since January.