Rangers take a half day off in loss to Maple Leafs

In Toronto, the visiting New York Rangers fell back to their old ways in a 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs.

“If we could have played like we did in the third the whole time we would have given ourselves a better chance, but I don’t think we were too bad,” New York’s Ryan Strome said. “Face-offs really killed us tonight, myself included (1-for-12). It was terrible. It’s frustrating because we work so hard on it and when you give a good team the puck to start, it’s really hard.”

Morgan Rielly scored once in the first and once in the middle frame, power play, for 2-0 lead through the two periods.

A full 60-minute game is the objective.

“The second period, I think we were playing right into their hands,” the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad said. “We gave them way too much time and not the greatest decisions with the puck and if you give them time, they’re going to take advantage. That’s a good team.”

New York dropped to 10-4-3.

“We were bad, but I don’t think it killed us by no means,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said. “Toronto is one of the best in the League, but that didn’t determine the outcome of the game for me. It was a good game. We pushed at the end to try to get the tie and had a few good chances but fell a little short.”

Jack Campbell made 27 saves in the Maple Leafs win.

“Coach (Sheldon Keefe) always brings it up that the elite teams close games out going into the third period,” Campbell said. “They got one on us tonight, but we found a way to get the win and a big two points.

Toronto improved to 12-5-1.

“I just felt they were really pushing for a couple of sequences in a row,” Keefe said. “Our team is more than comfortable now, we’ve played in those situations a lot but just sitting there as a coach, they’ve just scored one and now they’re pressing a little bit, you’re going to feel pretty terrible if they tie the game and you haven’t done anything.

“It was really just relax, no reason to panic, let’s just breathe because we know how to play in these situations.”

Dryden Hunt scored in the third period for the Rangers to get it close.