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The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the Christmas holiday break on a much needed winning note, as Auston Matthews scored a goal and assist in his return to the lineup in a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
William Nylander and Ron Hainsey also scored and Frederik Andersen made 30 saves for Toronto, who snapped a four-game road losing skid and moved two points ahead of the Boston Bruins for sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Division.
The 20-year-old returned after missing six straight games with a concussion and showed little rust, playing close to 19 minutes and combining with linemates Zach Hyman and Nylander on two of the Leafs tallies.
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“Those first couple of shifts, I wasn’t feeling too great – and then you kind of get your legs under you and [Nylander] and [Hyman] got me involved pretty early.… Matthews said following the game. “When you get the feel back for the puck and get involved early and kind of rolling around the zone, your confidence takes off from there and throughout the game.…
Toronto dodged a few bullets early in the game, including Rangers two-man advantage for 1:40 with penalty killing blueliners Ron Hainsey and Roman Polak in the box, but took the lead late in the first as the Matthews line hemmed New York in their own zone and finally converted with Nylander’s seventh goal of the season.
Hainsey put the Leafs up 2-0 early in the middle frame at the tail end of a power play with a point blast that eluded Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, but another defensive miscue by Jake Gardiner allowed New York to get on the scoreboard less than two minutes later, as Jimmy Vesey scored past Andersen on a wraparound to make it 2-1.
The Leafs responded later in the second to restore their two goal lead, as Hyman did some effective work along the boards to get the puck to Matthews in front of the net to make it 3-1, but Toronto squandered numerous opportunities on the power play (including a 1:23 five-on-three) to put the game away.
With Toronto trying to play shutdown defensive hockey, limiting chances and relying on Andersen to hold the lead, New York broke through midway through the third, narrowing the lead to 3-2 on a J.T. Miller goal.
It appeared as if the Rangers had tied the game less than a minute later as former Leaf Michael Grabner flew past Connor Carrick and Dominic Moore to beat Andersen, but the Leafs challenged the goal for being offside and video replay confirmed that Kevin Hayes was in the Toronto zone by a few inches before Grabner had entered.
“(Hayes) foot was offside, I just looked down(at the video monitor), it was obvious.… Babcock said, “It wasn't like a big challenge, it was just [video analyst Jordan Bean] had called out to us and told [Assistant Coach Andrew Brewer] to call up to us and told us that it was offside.…
The club evened their December record to .500 (5-5-0) and now have a four day respite before beginning their last road swing west of the Mississippi against the Arizona Coyotes next Thursday.
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