TORONTO — The Rangers keep promising that if they continue to do all the things they’ve been doing, the goals will come eventually.
They got one Thursday night, which was more than they’d managed in either of their two previous games, but that wasn’t enough to get them a win. Auston Matthews scored 58 seconds into overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 victory over the Rangers, who, for the third straight game, felt they deserved a better result.
“I think we’re generating a lot of really quality chances,’’ said Braden Schneider, whose point shot led to Juuso Parssinen’s goal at 4:51 of the third period. “And I think once we get a few, I think we’re going to start to really feel confident about putting it home.
“Obviously, you want the results, and you want to get as many wins as you can, especially when we are playing as well as we are. But I think we’ve just got to keep pushing through and hope for more to go in.’’
Schneider essentially was repeating the same message all the Rangers have been spouting for days now after taking consecutive shutout losses at home at the hands of the Capitals and Oilers on Sunday and Tuesday in games they thought they deserved to win.
Against the Maple Leafs, the Rangers again won the shots-on-goal battle — 29-24, including 10-4 in the third period — and according to Natural Stat Trick, they had more scoring chances (28-21) and more high-danger chances (16-8).
This time, at least they got a point, which put their record at 2-3-1.
“It does [seem familiar],’’ coach Mike Sullivan said. “You know, I feel like the guys are competing hard. We’re defending hard as a team. When you look at this Toronto team with some of the personnel that they have, it’s similar to Edmonton in the sense that they’re two of the more dangerous teams offensively, anyway. They’re high-octane offensive teams, and I think we’re defending extremely hard against them.
“I thought we had a bunch of looks again,’’ he said. “And the key for me right now is we just — we’ve got to make sure we don’t get discouraged . . . It’s an important point for us.’’
Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves for the Rangers but couldn’t stop Matthews on the winner after Mika Zibanejad fanned on a shot from above the right circle and fell. Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly retrieved the puck and sent William Nylander and Matthews away on a two-on-one. Adam Fox dropped to the ice and tried to defend the play but couldn’t prevent Nylander’s pass from getting across to Matthews, who scored his fourth goal of the season.
“It feels like we’re playing good hockey,’’ said Will Cuylle, who started the game on left wing with J.T. Miller and Conor Sheary and ended it on right wing with Artemi Panarin and Zibanejad. “I mean, it’s obviously easy to get frustrated and kind of, you know, change the way you’re playing.
“But I think as a team and as a staff and players, feel like we’re playing the right way. And, I mean, it’s kind of crazy. The last three games, it feels like we’ve outshot them, outchanced them every game. So it’s just how it goes . . . I think [over] a long season, it’ll end up balancing out.’’
Parssinen’s goal ended a drought of 170 minutes and 39 seconds between goals for the Rangers. They had last scored at 14:12 of the third period in Saturday’s 6-1 win over the Penguins.
Parssinen played in that game but was a healthy scratch for the next two and four of the first five. But he not only was in the lineup Thursday but was at the front of the net to redirect Schneider’s shot behind goalie Anthony Stolarz (28 saves) for his first goal of the season.
“We generated a couple of looks earlier in the shift, and it squirted out, and I saw an opportunity to lay into one, and Parssinen was at the net and got a stick on it,’’ Schneider said. “And I think that was the exact kind of goal that we need. We need to score those kind of gritty, garbage goals, hard-working goals.’’
But the Rangers couldn’t get a second goal, and one wasn’t enough.
Notes & quotes: Defenseman Will Borgen, who missed practice Wednesday with a lower-body injury, was a game-time decision but played. He logged 16:22 of ice time . . .
Matt Rempe had three shots and a team-high six hits . . . The Rangers held Matthews to one shot on goal before his overtime winner.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.