Shesterkin makes 34 saves, Rangers defeat Maple Leafs for 3rd straight win

TORONTO -- Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves for the New York Rangers in a 4-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

“He’s able to give us probably bigger leads in games than we deserve especially through the first five games of the season,” Rangers forward Reilly Smith said. “Games should probably be closer than the scoreboard has been but he makes saves on pretty much sure goals and that makes a huge difference. Not only is he keeping the puck out of the net, but he is also changing the momentum in games and it’s gone a long way for us this year.”

Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin each scored to extend his season-opening point streak to five games, Chris Kreider scored twice, and Smith and Mika Zibanejad each had two assists for the Rangers (4-0-1), who have won three in a row.

“I thought it was a really good win,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “Good team in Toronto, that’s never an easy thing to do. I thought we sat back a little bit in the third period, Shesterkin had to make some big saves but they pushed too when they’re down 2-0, you can expect that. Overall I thought we played a pretty good first and second period as well.”

Auston Matthews scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs (3-2-0), who had a three-game winning streak end.

“Did enough to score, maybe not enough in front of their goalie,” Matthews said. “He is one of the best in the League so you’ve got to make sure you’ve got guys in front of him and create a little more havoc. I thought he saw too much. I thought we did a lot of good things, more than enough to hang in there throughout the game but obviously a couple breakdowns early (cost us).”

Lafreniere put the Rangers up 1-0 at 11:44 of the first period. After Victor Mancini’s point shot was deflected by Vincent Trocheck at the top of the goal crease, Lafreniere got to the rebound, skated across the slot, and shot glove side. He has three goals and three assists during the point streak.

“I think the patience kind of showed last year in a lot of situations through the playoffs, he made some plays that were pretty special,” Laviolette said. “So (the play tonight) for me, that’s a confidence thing.”

Shesterkin kept it 1-0 at 17:15 when he stopped William Nylander on a breakaway.

Kreider made it 2-0 at 9:08 of the second period when he tapped in a cross-crease pass from Zibanejad while on a delayed penalty.

“I don’t think I’m going to score from there and I know, have a pretty good idea where Kreider is on the ice so I just put it there and it was a great play by him to make sure he sees the puck because it goes through the defenseman,” Zibanejad said.

With the Maple Leafs on the power play, Shesterkin made a windmill-style glove save on John Tavares, who shot from the slot at 16:20 of the second period, keeping it 2-0.

Matthews cut it to 2-1 at 3:40 of the third period when he spun off Adam Fox behind the net, skated into the slot and shot past Shesterkin’s right pad.

Matthews had a chance to tie it at 6:04, but Shesterkin kept the Rangers up 2-1 with a stretching right toe save.

The Rangers killed off a two-minute minor penalty to Jacob Trouba for tripping at 12:25 with the score 2-1.

“The [guys] are going to be disappointed because we didn’t score,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “Now there were some good looks on the power play tonight but the one in the third period, we didn’t execute very well on that one with our entries and we turned it over a couple times. When the game is on the line right there with an opportunity to tie it up, we’ve got to have more urgency.”

Later, at 16:24, Shesterkin made a glove save on Nylander, who shot from the left face-off dot to preserve the one-goal lead.

“I don’t know which one stood out most, there were so many of them I lose count,” Smith said. “I feel like he’s had a whole season of highlight reel already through four or five games this year. It’s pretty impressive what he’s able to do but I think we can probably do a better job of helping him out and not giving up all those chances.”

Kreider shot into an empty net at 19:00 to make it 3-1, and Panarin scored into an empty net at 19:46 for the 4-1 final. Panarin has six goals and six assists during his point streak.

NOTES: In Shesterkin's three wins this season, he has allowed a total of two goals. ... New York has scored at least four goals in each of its first five games. ... This is the fourth time in Rangers history (2008-09, 1997-98, 1983-84) that they have opened a season with a five-game point streak. ... Zibanejad's assist on Kreider's goal in the second period was his 300th with the Rangers, making him the 13th player to reach that mark. ... Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev left at 18:17 of the second period after blocking a one-timer from Zibanejad off the right knee. He returned for the third period but played only four shifts for 2:17… Matthews had a game-high nine shots on goal.