Rangers win five in a row, end two Leafs streaks

The Rangers ended the Leafs regulation unbeaten streak last night with a 3-1 win at MSG. The Leafs were hadn’t lost in regulation in 15 games, and Mitch Marner had a 23 game scoring streak. Both were ended by the Rangers. Jimmy Vesey carried the Rangers with two goals, including a beauty to give the Rangers the lead in the second period. Igor Shesterkin was magnificent as well, providing the Rangers with his strongest game of the season.

The Rangers haven’t played the prettiest hockey lately, and last night was no different. Toronto “controlled” most of the offensive play, with an 80% high danger share and a 71.5% of the expected goal share. That said, it was less about the Rangers’ defensive play and more about their lack of offensive pressure. The Rangers did a pretty good job of holding the Leafs to just 2.27 expected goals, and Igor did the rest.

On offense, however, the Rangers really struggled in this one. Their 0.9 expected-goals-for last night was bad, and it wasn’t hard to see that they struggled to sustain pressure. But as we’ve been saying, the process means a lot in the long term, but sometimes you need the wins in the short term to regain that confidence. This five game win streak is great for the confidence, but they do need to improve the on-ice product back to what they had in October.

It will happen. The Rangers are a good team. They are a playoff team.

Rangers 1, Leafs 0

The young powerplay unit sure did move the puck well here. Kaapo Kakko pulled an Artemiy Panarin, getting a great look and then dishing a pass to the wing for Filip Chytil to finish. Vitali Kravtsov as the bumper appeared to work here, albeit in one shift, as he was shifting position to open passing lanes down to Alexis Lafreniere, out to Kakko, and across to Chytil.

Leafs 1, Rangers 1

Kakko and Chytil got caught on a long shift, and it was clear they were gassed. They couldn’t keep up with the Leafs, which led to missed coverages on Michael Bunting and David Kampf. The former got the goal off the rebound from the latter’s deflection. Bunting was holding Jacob Trouba’s stick in his armpit and it should have been a penalty.

Rangers 2, Leafs 1

K’Andre Miller made a great play to break up a Leafs chance in front, and the puck ricocheted out of the zone to Vincent Trocheck to start the rush with Jimmy Vesey. The hands and the move were just great.

Rangers 3, Leafs 1

Jimothy James Vesey with the empty netter.