Maple Leafs 6 - 3 Rangers
Final
  for this game

Leafs beat up Rangers for first win of season

Oct 13, 2014 - 5:20 AM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Phil Kessel posted a goal and two assists and the Toronto Maple Leafs thumped the New York Rangers, 6-3.

Cody Franson, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak each posted a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who got their first win of the season after losses to Montreal and Pittsburgh to open the campaign.

James Reimer allowed two goals on 26 shots, but left in the third period after a collision with New York forward Dominic Moore. Jonathan Bernier allowed one goal on 12 shots in relief.

Lee Stempniak, Rick Nash and Derick Brassard all scored for the Rangers, who have dropped their past two after opening the season with a win at St. Louis.

Henrik Lundqvist was tagged for six goals on 24 shots and was pulled in the second period. Cam Talbot stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief.

Skating on the power play, the Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead as Franson beat Lundqvist cleanly with a slap shot from the right circle at 7:45 of the first period.

"They had more opportunities with the puck," Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said of his club. "We didn't have many turnovers in the first 10 minutes. We drew some penalties and the power play clicked. Those things went in our favor."

New York, though, tied the game with 2:38 left in the opening frame as a rush play saw Martin St. Louis skate in down the right wing and send a pass to the low left side where Nash redirected it in.

The Maple Leafs went back on top at 5:19 of the second as a shot by Dion Phaneuf at the right point was blocked, but Kessel was there at the inside left circle to snap home the rebound for a power-play goal.

"No one in our group wanted to perform the way we did tonight," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "After a pretty balanced first period, I'm not sure what happened in the second. Every opportunity seemed to find the back of our net."

It was 3-1 less than three minutes later as van Riemsdyk sent a little backhand saucer pass from behind the left side of the net, and Nazem Kadri one-timed it over the glove of Lundqvist.

Skating shorthanded, Toronto took a 4-1 lead as van Riemsdyk went in on a clean break and slipped a backhand between the pads of Lundqvist.

The Rangers caught a break as a Stempniak goal down low was initially waived off as the net came dislodged, but the replay showed he shot the puck before it came off its moorings and it was a 4-2 game at 13:26.

Less than a minute later, though, the Leafs got the goal back as Kadri's wrister from the top of the left circle went between the legs of a defender then through the pads of Lundqvist, and David Clarkson scored just 48 seconds after that for a 6-2 advantage.

Brassard scored on a slapper from the right circle with under six minutes to play to account for the final score.

Game Notes

Toronto hosts Colorado on Tuesday ... New York hosts the Islanders on Tuesday ... Nash left the contest in the second intermission to be with his wife, as the couple is expecting their first child ... New York took two of three from Toronto last season ... Toronto was 2-for-4 on the power play while New York went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.






Related News