Shesterkin, Rangers defeat Maple Leafs in OT

TORONTO -- Igor Shesterkin made 40 saves, and Artemi Panarin scored with 1:12 left in overtime to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

Panarin beat Jack Campbell glove side from the right circle after winning a battle for the puck off the face-off.
"Well deserved by our goalie, for sure," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "He was incredible tonight. He obviously stole us a couple of points in here tonight. Campbell was really good, too. We didn't have a lot of chances, but we had some Grade A's, and he made some real good saves also, but our goalie was outstanding. Just his athleticism. He's strong, he plays hard on every puck, he's always square to the puck."
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (2-1-1), who have won two straight.
"I don't think we played good enough for long enough today and Igor, if it's not for him, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened," Zibanejad said. "But at the end of the day, we got the two points and we're moving on. It was a good lesson for us."
Michael Bunting scored, and Campbell made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs (2-1-1).
"Shesterkin played really well, it was a good challenge for sure," Campbell said. "I thought we did a good job of making it tough on him. The boys played really well in front of me."
Zibanejad gave New York a 1-0 lead at 13:49 of the first period. He intercepted a clearing attempt by John Tavares and beat Campbell from the high slot.

Bunting tied it 1-1 at 1:36 of the second period when his redirection of Morgan Rielly's pass trickled over the goal line.
Toronto outshot New York 17-2 in the second period.
"I mean, we won but we had a bad second period," Gallant said. "We were a little sleepy in the second, obviously, and got dominated, but I thought our first was OK, our third was OK, our overtime was OK. But did we have a bad 25 minutes, yeah."
William Nylander had a chance to win it at 1:17 of overtime when he got around Panarin and skated in alone, but Shesterkin made a pad save.
"[Shesterkin] was pretty spectacular all night. We didn't have our best game, but sometimes you need your goalie to steal one for you, and he definitely did it tonight," New York defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "We weren't at our best, but we found a way to grind through it. We gave up way too many shots, way too many chances, but he was there so I give him a lot of credit."
Auston Matthews made his season debut for the Maple Leafs after missing the first three games while recovering from wrist surgery he had Aug. 13. He had eight shots in 22:53 of ice time.
"I thought my timing was all right," Matthews said. "For the first game, I can definitely walk away happy with it. I got some good chances, some good looks and I think that's all you can ask for. I felt pretty good. I thought the guys around me did a really good job of helping me get into the game early."
NOTES:Shesterkin's win was his seventh in which he has made at least 40 saves since 2019-20, the most in the NHL.