TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs were defeated 5-2 on Tuesday night by the New York Rangers, who were led by Mika Zibanejad’s two goals and Igor Shesterkin’s 31 saves.
With the top record in the Eastern Conference, New York (22-7-1) also has goals from Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere, and Artemi Panarin. Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson, two former Leafs defensemen, each earned three assists.
The scorching Following his absence on Saturday due to illness, Auston Matthews responded with both goals, giving him an NHL-best 25 for Toronto (16-7-6). William Nylander extended his point run to nine games with an assist.
“Excellent performance across numerous domains,” remarked Matthews. “Three goals, three unlucky bounces, but that’s just how it sometimes works.”
Martin Jones made 31 saves to
Shesterkin was excellent this evening but let up six goals on 29 shots in that humiliating loss.
Peter Laviolette, the Rangers coach, stated, “Better start.” “They worked through the night.”
Following his return from the minor leagues, Jones went 3-0-0 with a.949 save percentage until suffering his first defeat of 2023–24.
“A few difficult bounces,” he remarked. However, I find Schneider’s goal to be the most disappointing. In that moment in the game, I would prefer to play it a little differently.
“After that, who knows what might have happened?”
After trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes, Matthews tied the score 1:16 into the third frame with his second goal of the game, his 25th goal overall, and his 11th in the center’s previous seven outings.
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