A little resilience and confidence goes a long way in any league.
On Saturday night, the New York Rangers gave up a two-goal lead in the third period to the Maple Leafs in Toronto leading to extra time.
Tony DeAngelo scored the OT winner for the Rangers in Toronto – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
In the extra session. Tony DeAngelo scored with just 52 seconds gone to give the Rangers a 5-4 win.
It was their second in two nights coming out of the holiday break.
“I was yelling at [goalie Alexandar] Georgiev not to freeze it, I was pretty confident Strome could make the play like he did,” DeAngelo said. “Maybe [the Maple Leafs] thought it was going to be frozen because I think they kind of stopped. But I just joined the rush and Panarin made a great play, so I was just fortunate to finish it.”
Ryan Strome had two goals and four points in the win.\
Georgiev made 44 saves in the win.
“Going into Friday’s game, if we said we would get a split or even three points we would have been happy, but four points in these two nights really changes the look of our season, I think. We’re right back in it,” Strome said. “It was a gutsy effort. It feels good to get the win. It would have stung a little not to leave here with two points.”
Auston Matthews had two strikes for the Leafs including the goal that forced e3xtra time with 53 seconds left on the regulation clock.
“I think we’re proud of the way we battled back,” Matthews said. “Obviously it would have been nice to finish it off, but I don’t think in any intermission or just coming into the third, we were never discouraged or anything. With the way both these teams play, high-powered offenses, you’re going to get your chances and we battled back.”
Pierre Engvall and William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs.
“I guess that was pretty fun for the fans, the Maple Leafs play pretty open hockey with lots of scoring chances in the game,” Georgiev said. “It was great we were leading most of the game, we just tried to play good defense to not let it be complete open hockey.”
Brett Howden and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers.
“I don’t think anyone was panicking when we gave up the lead,” DeAngelo said. “They had a lot of good chances and Georgiev played real well, but just like we got our goals, they got theirs, and sometimes that’s how the game goes, but we stuck with it and found a way to pick up the extra point.”
[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Frederik Andersen made 33 saves in the loss.
“I mean, points are one thing, but I think there are obviously areas of improvement for us when you look at the games,” Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “I mean, you take what you can.”
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