Maple Leafs 6 - 3 Rangers
Final
  for this game

Leafs eye first win in Rangers' home opener

Oct 12, 2014 - 2:14 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs aim to avoid their worst start to a season in five years on Sunday evening as they visit New York for the Rangers' home opener at Madison Square Garden.

The Maple Leafs will play on the road for the first time this season after dropping home contests to Montreal and Pittsburgh to begin the campaign. After losing a one-goal decision to the Canadiens on Wednesday, they were bested 5-2 on Saturday by the Penguins.

Toronto was outshot 41-25 and trailed 3-0 after the first period before getting goals from Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak, both on the power play. However, the Leafs also allowed the Penguins to score three times on the man advantage, while netminder Jonathan Bernier did his best with 36 saves.

"We can all share the blame in this one," said Lupul. "We took some bad penalties and let them score, and was unable to get any momentum back to make a push."

Toronto began last season 3-0 and with a win in six of its first seven, but will try to avoid opening up a campaign with three consecutive losses for the first time since going 0-7-1 to begin the 2009-10 schedule.

James Reimer could make his first start of the season tonight for the Leafs. He went 12-16-1 with a 3.29 goals against average and .911 save percentage in 36 games last season and is 1-1-1 lifetime versus the Rangers with a 3.20 GAA and .909 save percentage in four games (3 starts).

The Rangers, meanwhile, have split a pair of road games, beating St. Louis on Thursday before falling 5-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.

Former Blue Jacket star Rick Nash and Lee Stempniak had the goals for New York and rookie Anthony Duclair recorded his first career NHL points with two assists.

Cam Talbot drew the start between the pipes for New York but stopped just 19- of-23 shots.

"They won the net-front battles. They got a lot of second opportunities," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said of the Blue Jackets. "They were the better team tonight."

New York will open its four-game homestand with Henrik Lundqvist in net. He made 23 saves in the win over the Blues and is 12-7-5 lifetime versus the Leafs with a 2.66 GAA and .905 save percentage in 24 meetings.

The Rangers are 6-1-1 in their last eight versus the Maple Leafs.






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