The Maple Leafs hosted the New York Rangers on Saturday, March 2 at the Scotiabank Arena. The game ended in a shootout, both Max Domi and Mitch Marner scored, and Mika Zibanejad scored the lone goal in the shootout for New York. This was Toronto’s second straight win after their seven-game win streak was put to an end on Tuesday, February 27th against the Vegas Golden Knights. Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves, as well as five in overtime, for Toronto.
Rangers lineup against the Maple Leafs:
Kreider – Zibanejad – Kakko
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Brodzinski – Vesey
Edstrom – Goodrow – Rempe
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Maple Leafs lineup against the Rangers:
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Bertuzzi – Domi – Nylander
McMann – Tavares – Janrkrok
Holmberg – Kampf – Reaves
Brodie – Liljegren
Rielly – Lyubushkin
Benoit – McCabe
Samsonov
Woll
Alexis Lafreniere started the scoring at 8:27 of the first period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead when got a shot past the blocker at the slot. This had been the only goal scored in the first frame… they headed into the second period with New York in the lead.
Tying the game and scoring his 24th goal of the season, Mitch Marner brought the puck out of the left corner and then shot five-hole on Igor Shesterkin after he had fanned his original attempt at 16:06 of the second period. Vincent Trocheck put the Rangers back in the lead not long after Marner’s game-tying goal at 14:57. Trocheck received a pass from Alexis Lafreniere and shot from the left circle, getting the puck past Ilya Samsonov. At 11:06, William Nylander tied it back up with a shot from the point that deflected off the stick of Erik Gustafsson.
John Tavares gave Toronto a 3-2 lead at 12:43 of the third period after a shot from Calle Jarnkrok deflected off him in front of the net. Tying it at 3-3 with his second of the night and his 22nd goal of the season, Vincent Trocheck put in a rebound after a shot from Artemi Panarin had been deflected by Alexis Lafreniere in the slot during a 6-on-5 at 1:07 of the third frame.
The Maple Leafs and Rangers went into overtime but had no luck in deciding the winner… so they went into a shootout where Mika Zibanejad scored the only goal for New York while both Mitch Marner and Max Domi scored for Toronto for the 4-3 final.
Mitch Marner on the game and Ilya Samsonov: “It was very high-paced. That’s a very good team over there that has a lot of skill and plays the right way. We knew it was going to be back and forth, we had some massive saves from ‘Sammy’ again, and some big kills as well,” – “Amazing. This game could be a very different result if ‘Sammy’ doesn’t make a couple big saves. So again tonight, he was massive, and it was good to hear the crowd give him some love.”
Ilya Samsonov on the 4-3 victory: “First, I like the two points. We played together, we stayed hard fighting. It was an interesting game for fans, for everybody. Nice to get two points, probably first time for me in a shootout. Against the Rangers, those guys are doing very good in the shootout, so it was good for me.”
Notes:
– William Nylander extended his point streak to 10 games. Nylander is the first Maple Leafs player in history to have three separate 10-plus game point streaks in a single season… 17-game streak from October 11-November 19. and a 13-game streak from November 30-December 29. He also tied Mitch Marner for the second-most double-digit streaks in Maple Leafs history, behind Darryl Sittler (six).
– Calle Jarnkrok recorded his 300th NHL career point, as well as played 17:11 in his return after missing the last 13 games with a broken knuckle.
– Ilya Lyubushkin left late in the second period after he had taken a hit from Matt Rempe, and did not return… no updates had been given. This was Lyubushkin’s first game since he was traded from the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
– Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and recorded two assists, Vincent Trocheck scored two goals.
– Adam Fox ties Jim Nelson for the sixth-most assists by a New York Rangers defenseman.
– Igor Shesterkin made a total of 31 saves for New York.
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