Despite a season-high 43 shots on goal and a spirited rally from a three-goal deficit, the New York Rangers dropped a 4-3 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. Their sixth straight loss officially eliminated the Rangers from playoff contention with 10 games remaining in their disappointing season.
It’s the second straight season that the Rangers (28-35-9) failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, after three straight years in the postseason that included runs to the 2022 and 2024 Eastern Conference Final.
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“Nobody’s thrilled with where we’re at,” coach Mike Sullivan said tersely when asked about being eliminated.
Mika Zibanejad scored twice, and Alexis Lafreniere had a team-high three points (one goal, two assists) for the Rangers, who are 0-5-1 in their past six games. Igor Shesterkin stopped 14 of 18 shots in this latest defeat.
Shesterkin was outdueled by Toronto’s Joseph Woll, who finished with 40 saves, including 29 in the first two periods.
Despite being badly out-shot and out-chanced, the Maple Leafs raced out to a 3-0 lead, scoring three goals on their first 11 shots against Shesterkin less than 26 minutes into the game. But the Rangers clawed back into this one with a pair of power-play goals from Lafreniere and Zibanejad to cut the deficit to 3-2 by the second intermission.
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Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe scored his first goal since Nov. 18, a span of 51 games, 5:15 into the contest to get the home crowd on its feet. He scored off a broken play, when the puck skittered into the slot, and Jaroslav Chmelar made contact with his own goalie, Shesterkin, right before McCabe’s shot into the open cage.
Nicholas Robertson doubled Toronto’s lead at 12:08, burying a Max Domi feed off the rush for his 14th goal of the season.
The Rangers efficiently killed off a Maple Leafs power play at 16:55, with Shesterkin making one big-time save on a John Tavares point-blank chance, and trailed by two after the first period.
However, after killing off Dakota Joshua’s cross-checking minor early in the second, the Maple scored at even strength to make it 3-0 at 5:41. And wouldn’t you know that it was Joshua, the irritant, who rubbed salt in the wound by scoring his 10th goal off an odd-man rush for Toronto.
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But then the Rangers power play went to work, scoring twice on crisp passing plays to get back into the game.
First, Lafreniere made a deft move in front of the Toronto net and beat Woll with a silky finish at 10:16. It was his 21st goal of the season, and career-high seventh on the power play.
Zibanejad then made it 3-2 at 18:01, scoring his 281st goal with the Rangers, moving him past Adam Graves for sole possession of fourth place on the all-time franchise list.
The Rangers had a clutch penalty kill at 8:20 of the third period, and also caught a break a few minutes earlier when Domi rang a shot off the post. At the other end of the ice, Woll made a pair of dazzling stops on a Vincent Trocheck redirection and Vladislav Gavrikov put-back.
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Tavares put Toronto back up by two, scoring his 26th goal off a laser of a shot from right wing off the rush at 11:57. But Zibanejad answered back, finishing off a rush the other way at 13:04 with a sweet backhand finish down low to make it 4-3.
Lafreniere was denied by Woll on a solo sprint up right wing with 1:34 remaining in regulation. And the Rangers couldn’t manage a shot at Woll with a 6-on-4 advantage after McCabe cross-checked Gabe Perreault with 19.2 seconds left and Shesterkin off for the sixth attacker.
“I thought we deserved better tonight,” Sullivan summed up.
Key takeaways after Rangers lose 4-3 to Maple Leafs
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Memo received
Clearly, the Rangers received the memo to shoot more often, and get more of those shots on goal. Two nights after recording a pitiful 10 shots on goal in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, the Rangers passed that total halfway through the first period (!) on Wednesday in Toronto. They had 14 in that opening period, 17 in the second, and 12 more in the third, though they only lit the lamp three times, and just once at even strength.
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Per Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers had an overwhelming expected goal share of 69.75 percent against the Maple Leafs, and doubled up their opponent 30-15 in scoring chances (including 12-5 in the high-danger variety). New York out-attempted Toronto 79-40.
“Definitely the opposite of last game. Thought we outplayed them for pretty much the entire game, shot the puck a lot more, had a more direct mentality, skated more,” was captain J.T. Miller’s assessment postgame.
Zibanejad recorded a team-high 10 shots on goal and 15 attempts. Lafreniere and Will Cuylle each had seven shots on goal.
Adam Sykora makes ‘impact’ for Rangers in NHL debut
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Adam Sykora became the fourth Rangers rookie to make his NHL debut this season, and second in the past week after Dylan Garand’s impressive first game between the pipes for New York in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. The others are forwards Noah Laba and Jaroslav Chmelar, Sykora’s best friend from their time together the past two seasons with Hartford of the American Hockey League.
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Skating on a middle-six line with Trocheck and Cuylle, Sykora not only didn;t look out of place, but injected energy, speed, and strong two-way play into the lineup. The 21-year-old logged 13:33 TOI, recorded three shots on goal and had seven attempts, and blocked a shot. He was also minus-two.
“I thought he was great. I thought he played really well,” Sullivan stated. “His speed was evident. He made a couple of nice wall plays. Didn’t panic with the puck. He made good decisions at the lines. Didn’t force things that weren’t there. I thought he made an impact. I thought he had a really good game.”
McCabe scored the game’s first goal on Sykora’s second shift of the night. And the rookie was also on for Tavares’ goal, after the veteran stripped Cuylle of the puck, and darted the other way for an unassisted tally.
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Borgen’s close call
Will Borgen blocked a slap shot by McCabe in the final minutes Wednesday, and was in serious distress afterward. The 29-year-old defenseman appeared to take the shot off his right knee area, and remained down on the ice for a bit, attended to by the trainer after a play stoppage at 18:26 of the third period.
Mollie Walker of the New York Post reported that Borgen told her he was fine after the game, and that the puck struck a nerve, which caused the initial shutdown of his leg.
Borgen began the game paired with Braden Schneider, but that pair was broken up to better spread the experience throughout the defense corps, per Sullivan, with rookies Matthew Robertson and Vincent Iorio in the lineup.
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Igor’s had better nights
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Even though he missed a month of action with a lower-body injury and the Rangers had a miserable season, Shesterkin’s been among the best goalies in the NHL. His .911 save percentage and 2.59 goals-against average are top-10 numbers, though each stat took a hit Wednesday.
Simply, New York’s star goaltender has had better nights than this one.
It’s not that Shesterkin was bad. He wasn’t. But he also wasn’t at his best. The first goal, he couldn’t really be blamed for. But the next three came off the rush, and Shesterkin was beaten cleanly on each. Throw in a couple shots by Domi and Easton Cowan that kissed iron, and make it five shots that beat the 30-year-old clean.
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It’s unlikely Woll will often get to say that he was the better goalie when he faces Shesterkin. But such was the case Wednesday.
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