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Shanahan, Rangers look to regain lead in Atlantic Division

Dec 6, 2007 - 2:45 PM Toronto (11-11-6) at NY Rangers (15-10-2) 7:00 pm EST

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The New York Rangers better not be claustrophobic, because it is becoming pretty crowded at the top of the Atlantic Division.

Brendan Shanahan will try to help the Rangers take sole possession of first place in the division when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

New York, which has allowed an NHL-low 55 goals this season, is looking to respond from its first shutout since October 23, a 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday.

With wins Wednesday, both the Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey Devils climbed into a three-way tie with the Rangers for the division lead at 32 points.

The Rangers have struggled offensively this season despite having a pair of 600-goal scorers on the roster. Shanahan leads the club with just nine goals, while captain Jaromir Jagr has a team-leading 14 assists and 21 points.

The Maple Leafs are beginning to heat up behind the goaltending of Vesa Toskala, who evidently has finally secured his spot as the team's No. 1 netminder.

Toskala has started each contest during Toronto's three-game winning streak, yielding just five goals over that stretch to improve to 9-8-3 with a 2.93 goals-against average this season.

Toskala stopped 35 shots and defenseman Tomas Kaberle recorded two assists Tuesday to lead the Maple Leafs to a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators.