In New York, the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs grabbed a 3-1 lead in the first period on Wednesday night, at Madison Square Garden. 
Behind the strength of two goals from Ryan Reaves, the Rangers rallied for a 6-3 win over the Leafs.
“You never want to go three months without scoring,” Reaves said after playing his 33rd game for New York. “I tend to do that a lot in my career. Feels good to get them out of the way, especially in this barn. Hopefully they keep coming now.”
Ilya Mikheyev and Mitchell Marner scored early for a 2-0 Toronto lead.
“Today, I just thought we played soft and we made poor decisions defensively,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We couldn’t sort anything out. It was just far different. Each game has been different, so it’s hard to talk about patterns other than the obvious that we’ve been giving up leads. I just thought we got exposed today for being a team that was just soft, soft and purposeless and just kind of playing the game and hoping it was going to work out.
“I didn’t think we had anybody that played well tonight. Coaches didn’t coach well tonight. So today is a much different game than we’ve played in the others where we’ve given up leads and such. I just didn’t think we had nearly enough urgency or purpose.”
Reaves pulled the Rangers within one with his first of the game and season.
“I think we’re proving to the league, we’re proving to ourselves, that we’re a contender,” Reaves said. “The standings don’t lie.”
After a rough opening period, Igor Shesterkin settled down and made 35 saves in the game for the win.
Michael Buntting also scored for the Maple Leafs in the first stanza for the 3-1 count after 20 minutes.
“We took our foot off the gas, and it’s becoming something we really need to stop doing and fix,” Marner said. “This isn’t something we were doing at the start of the year.”
New York improved to 2-10-4.
“It shows our maturity,” Reaves said of the comeback. “It shows that we can hang with the big boys, that we are one of the big boys.”
Reaves potted his second of the game early in the second period and Adam Fox the first of his pair on the night in the 18th minute of the middle frame for a 3-3 tie.
“I was a little worried to be honest with you,” New York head coach Gerard Gallant said. “We came out a little sleepy.”
The third period belonged to the Maple Leafs everywhere but the scoresheet.
Toronto outshot the Rangers 17-9 but the Rangers were the ones who scored three unanswered goals.
Ryan Strome put the Rangers ahead 4-3 midway through the period.
“The goals were pretty simple goals, great turnovers, great plays and getting to the net,” Strome said. “We’ve sat up here all year and we’ve preached that it’s the simple things for our team, and it showed again tonight. They’re a great hockey team, and I liked our response from our team in the last 40.”
Chris Kreider doubled the advantage to 5-3 with a wrist shot from the left side of the slot.
Fox hit for an empty-net goal off a shot from 31st street in Manhattan.
“Even without the goals, I think the whole game they were the only line that was able to get in there and forecheck and create turnovers and have sustained zone time,” Strome said. “We fed off that. They provided energy the whole night.”
Jack Campbell made 21 saves in the Toronto loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.