Rangers overcome Matthews' 2 goals, defeat Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- The New York Rangers overcame two goals by Auston Matthews to end the Toronto Maple Leafs' point streak at nine with a 5-2 win at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

Mika Zibanejad scored twice, Erik Gustafsson had three assists, and Blake Wheeler and Chris Kreider each had two assists for the Rangers (22-7-1). Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves.

New York has won four of its past five games, with the lone loss in that span coming against the Maple Leafs last Tuesday (7-3).

“We had it circled and we thought we owed them one,” Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider said. “It was a game we wanted to get back at them for, and I thought we did just that.”

Martin Jones made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs (16-7-6), who were 6-0-3 during the point streak.

“They had three goals that just ping-ponged their way in, so unfortunate breaks there,” Toronto captain John Tavares said. “We didn’t get a chance to see our power play tonight, and I thought we created some good looks and had some opportunities. I think their goalie was seeing it really well, and we probably could have done a little better job of trying to find second and thirds and make it a little more difficult for him to challenge and see pucks cleanly.”

Matthews tied it 2-2 at 1:16 of the third period with his NHL-leading 25th goal of the season. He skated in behind Kreider to the right face-off dot, took a pass from Jake McCabe, and roofed a shot over Shesterkin’s glove.

Matthews, who did not play in a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday because of an illness, has nine goals during a personal five-game goal streak.

“I didn’t like the way we started the third period, not just the goal, but we just needed to press more and have a little more energy inside of our game,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “The resolve after that, after they tied it up, I thought we got going in the right direction and played a pretty sharp period from there.”

Schneider put the Rangers back in front 3-2 at 8:08, cutting around Tavares as he drove down the right wing before shooting five-hole on Jones.

“I saw a bit of ice to skate, and Gustafsson gave me a good pass,” Schneider said. “I think there might have been a little bit of a pick (at the blue line) or something, I don’t know what happened, but some ice opened up and I had some speed going through and I just tried to put it on net, and fortunately enough it went in.”

Artemi Panarin pushed it 4-2 at 15:08 when his shot from the left circle deflected in off the skate of Maple Leafs defenseman William Lagesson for a power-play goal.

Zibanejad shot into an empty net at 16:47 for the 5-2 final.

“We played a pretty good game in a lot of different areas,” Matthews said. “Three goals with three fluky bounces, but sometimes that’s the way it goes. I thought we hung in there for the most part.

“They’re just a really deep team and they’ve got four lines that can all skate and make plays and make it hard on you, so it’s always a good test playing these guys. They’ve got great goaltending and just a deep team, so with the way the game went last week against them, you knew they were going to be coming out here to play.”

New York took a 1-0 lead at 6:11 of the second period when Wheeler’s attempted pass deflected off Zibanejad’s skate, the body of TJ Brodie and then McCabe's stick before going into the net.

Matthews tied it 1-1 at 7:32. Morgan Rielly carried the puck into the zone and to the bottom of the left circle before passing back to Matthews, who lifted in a shot from the hash marks.

Alexis Lafrenière responded for the Rangers on the power play to make it 2-1 at 9:50, scoring with a shot from the top of the left circle that deflected in off Rielly.

It was Lafreniere's first goal since Nov. 22 (13 games).

“It was a shot, but it was a pretty lucky goal," he said. "It went off something, I don’t know, maybe a defenseman, but lucky, but good to see it go in.

“Playing with [Panarin] and [Vincent] Trocheck, you’re going to get good looks, for sure, because they’re such good playmakers, so it was good to see one go in, and hopefully keep producing.”

NOTES: Panarin extended his point streak to five games (one goal, five assists). ... Zibanejad also extended his point streak to five games (five goals, three assists). ... Maple Leafs forward William Nylander had an assist to extend his point streak to nine games (three goals, 11 assists).