John Tavares leads Maple Leafs to victory over Rangers

NEW YORK — John Tavares scored twice and an added an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers 4-3 on Thursday night.

Bobby McMann and Matthew Knies also scored to help Toronto win its third straight game. Jake McCabe had three assists and William Nylander contributed two.

Will Borgen, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, who lost their third game in a row at home in regulation and fell to 2-5-2 in their last nine overall.

Tavares opened the scoring by rocketing a high shot past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin at 12:30 of the first period, with assists to McCabe and Nylander. The assist was Nylander's 600th career point.

Borgen tied it with his fifth goal at 19:12, but McCann put Toronto back on top 38 seconds later with his 19th.

Panarin tied it again with his team-leading 31st goal at 1:22 of the second before Tavares added his second of the night and 29th this season at 4:16.

Knies increased the lead to 4-2 with his 25th goal at 14:26 of the second.

Kreider made it 4-3 at 19:25 of the third.

New York has dropped the first three of a four-game homestand against teams from Canada.

Shesterkin made 24 saves and fell to 23-25-4.

Takeaways

Rangers: Dropped to 16-17-3 at home, a precipitous fall from last season when they were 30-11-0 at Madison Square Garden.

Maple Leafs: Have won three straight after a 1-4-1 stretch as they jockey with Florida and Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Key moment

Tavares scored less than three minutes after Panarin tied the game early in the second, giving Toronto a momentum surge it maintained.

Key stat

Tavares reached 1,100 career points. The 34-year-old forward has 485 goals and 615 assists.

Up next

Maple Leafs: Visit the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

Rangers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.