Goaltenders sharp as Rangers edge Leafs in shootout

Frederik Andersen shined, but Henrik Lundqvist stole the show as the Rangers down the Leafs in shootout.

TORONTO — Mika Zibanejad scored the shootout winner as the New York Rangers continued a scorching February with a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
   
Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves and J.T. Miller scored the game-tying goal in the third period for the Rangers, who improved to 8-1-1 this month.
   
New York (39-19-2) moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division, now with 80 points.
   
Connor Brown scored the lone goal for Toronto (28-20-11), which fell to 1-7 in shootouts this season. Frederik Andersen had a stellar performance in defeat with 37 stops.
   
The Leafs hold the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division (68 points), two points back of Ottawa (70) and four back of Montreal.
   
Struggling in the new year and coming off an especially rough start (and win) against Winnipeg on Tuesday, Andersen was locked in early.
   
After Auston Matthews turned the puck over in the neutral zone, Andersen was there to stop Rick Nash, making a left pad save off Brandon Pirri in transition and then shut down a Mats Zuccarello attempt in tight.
   
Later, with the Leafs up 1-0 on the 15th goal of the year by Brown, Andersen came up with the biggest of 14 first period saves, stretching to make a left pad stop on former Leaf Michael Grabner. Grabner had stolen the puck with Toronto on a power play, racing in to lead an odd-man Rangers rush.
   
The puck eventually found its way to New York captain Ryan McDonagh who fed Grabner cross-ice to his right, his attempt denied by the 27-year-old netminder.


   
"We need him to be good," Leafs coach Mike Babcock said of Andersen before the game. "We make mistakes so we need him to be good. We need him to be the top goalies in the league like he’s capable of being."
   
Andersen entered the night with an .894 save percentage since Jan. 1 and .913 overall on the season, his first with the Leafs.
   
New York was the better team for the first 20 minutes, generating a number of scoring opportunities in transition while capitalizing on Toronto’s mistakes in the defensive zone. At one point, Toronto failed with two chances to clear a puck, leading to sustained offensive zone time for the Rangers.
   
Brown, who got the opening goal, was filling in for 19-year-old Mitch Marner (48 points) alongside veterans James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak. Marner was sitting out his fourth consecutive game with a suspected right shoulder injury.
   
The Leafs had a scare late in the first when No. 1 defenceman Morgan Rielly showed some discomfort after defending a Jimmy Vesey rush. Rielly exited for the dressing room just before the period was through, but returned for the second and totalled almost 25 minutes.
   
Alexey Marchenko, picked up off waivers from Detroit earlier this month, logged just under 14 minutes in his Leafs debut.
   
Lundqvist kept New York within one early in the second when he denied Matthews after a Rangers neutral zone turnover.
   
Andersen continued to shine at the other end as the Leafs struggled to handle the Rangers attack, which came into the night ranked third in the NHL in goals per-game (3.32). Of particular trouble for Toronto was the line of Zuccarello, Chris Kreider and Zibanejad, the trio pushing 80 per cent puck possession after 40 minutes while primarily going up against the Leafs top matchup line of Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov and Josh Leivo.


   
Even-strength shot attempts were 54-33 favouring the Rangers after the second with a number of those attempts coming in tight around Andersen. New York had also won 27-of-38 faceoffs at that point (75 per cent).
   
The Leafs No. 1 ranked power play generated next to nothing with three opportunities.
   
The Rangers had a fine chance to even the game at one near the midway point of the third when Zuccarello broke in alone on Andersen only to be tripped up by Nikita Zaitsev. But New York managed to capitalize, Miller scoring just as the ensuing power play expired. The American winger banged in a Pirri shot that bounced off the end-boards after going wide of the net.
   
It was Miller’s 19th goal this year — three off the career-high 22 he managed in 82 games last year.
   
Rielly nearly put the Leafs back in front in the waning minutes of regulation only to have his shot ring off the post.
   
Both goaltenders shined in the overtime with Lundqvist stopping breakaways on both Matthews and Komarov.

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