Chris Kreider scored two goals — one into an empty net — and the visiting New York Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday night.
Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin (empty net) also scored for the Rangers, who have won the first two games of a three-game road trip and three in a row overall. Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith added two assists each.
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 shots, making some key saves.
Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a three-game winning streak end.
Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz made 25 saves.
The Maple Leafs had the better of the play for the first half of the first period before Lafreniere gave New York a 1-0 lead at 11:44.
After grabbing a loose puck from a rebound, Lafreniere scored his third goal of the season from the slot with a 23-foot wrist shot. The rebound resulted from Vincent Trocheck’s deflection of Victor Mancini’s shot.
William Nylander missed a chance to tie the game late in the first period after he broke in alone.
Kreider tapped in a pass from the left circle by Zibanejad for his fourth goal of the season at 9:08 of the second period. Smith also earned an assist as New York took advantage of a six-on-five situation on a delayed penalty against Toronto.
Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev went to the dressing room late in the second period after stopping a shot, but he returned to action.
Matthews scored his second goal of the season at 3:40 of the third period to halve the Maple Leafs’ deficit. He worked the puck from the end boards and shot from 11 feet on the wraparound. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Matthew Knies earned assists.
Shesterkin made a big save on Nylander late in the third period.
Kreider scored into an empty net at 19:00 of the third, his fifth goal of the season. Panarin also scored into an empty net, his sixth goal of the campaign, at 19:46.
Toronto’s Max Pacioretty was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game and defenseman Timothy Liljegren sat for the fourth time in the team’s five games.
–Field Level Media
