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AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Mats Zuccarello has owned the Toronto Maple Leafs this year. He has six points in the two games against Toronto this year, and has scored four goals in those games. Tonight he buried one in the final minute to give the Rangers a 4-3 win in a snoozer at MSG. Antti Raanta was great, as expected, and Jonathan Bernier was pretty atrocious, allowing two horrendous goals. The win is the Rangers ninth in a row, and they are now 11-0-2 in their last 13 games. Unbelievable.

During the second intermission, Derek Stepan commented about his goal from the red line, stating he plays for “Knicks bounces.” That has to be frustrating for players. This ice was choppy, and there was no flow in the game because of it. Pucks were hopping over sticks on routine plays. There’s a lot of discussion about more goals making games exciting, but this game was dreadful. Give me action and flow over flukey goals any day.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Leafs 1, Rangers 0

holland gola

Peter Holland pressured Viktor Stalberg with the puck behind the net, who got no help from Kevin Klein or Marc Staal. Byron Froese jumps in and pokes the puck free from Stalberg and back to Holland. Holland has a lot of room to walk in, as Klein backed off the play, and stuff it through Raanta.

Rangers 1, Leafs 1

This play started with the Rangers breaking up the rush by the Leafs at the top of the circle, and then transitioning to a 4-on-2 rush. Dan Girardi got the puck quickly to Mats Zuccarello, who skated it into the zone and found Ryan McDonagh for the goal.

Rangers 2, Leafs 1

Thanks Bernier.

Leafs 2, Rangers 2

lupul goal

Both Keith Yandle and Dylan McIlrath allowed Joffrey Lupul and Byron Froese behind them in front of the net. The shot from Dion Phaneuf doesn’t get through, but Lupul is free to get two whacks at it. Raanta stopped the first, but couldn’t get the second.

Rangers 3, Leafs 2

This was another beauty by Zucc. First, Kevin Klein gave Derick Brassard a nice outlet pass from the defensive zone. Brass left the puck for Zucc streaking up the wing. Zucc made a shifty move to give himself space from Matt Hunwick before centering for Brass, who buried it.

Leafs 3, Rangers 3

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This puck took a nasty hop on Raanta.

Rangers 4, Leafs 3

This was just a terrible rebound given up by Bernier. I don’t think either Matt Hunwick, who was barely moving, or Morgan Reilly, who just watched Zucc skate by him, were expecting that.

Score Adjusted Corsi

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This game had some weird flow to it. There were a lot of shot attempts, but they were off odd bounces for the most part. There was very little flow and sustained pressure by either team. This is a product of bad ice.

Scoring Chances

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This is almost the polar opposite of the standard Corsi game chart above. When I watched this game, I thought the Rangers had a rough first period, but a solid second period. They absolutely flat lined in the third, but both teams were playing a bad period. I guess the charts match what I saw, because I have no idea how to judge that game.

Individual Corsi

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Girardi had a solid game, doing a good job with McDonagh and shutting down the top line of Kadri/JVR/Komarov. Staal had a rough one, as did Klein. Their struggles were noticeable, and it shows here.

Shot Locations

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It would be nice if we see a game where the Rangers have more attempts than their opponent in the boxed high-risk area. Funny: Stepan’s goal doesn’t even show up on this chart because it was too far in the neutral zone.

Shift Chart

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The Rangers have a much needed break after winning all three of their games in this recent three-in-four. Their next game is Thursday against Tampa Bay, another strong team that will be another big test for the Rangers. That will be another opportunity for them to show that they aren’t smoke and mirrors.

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