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Leafs Rally, Beat Rangers On Marner’s OT Goal; Lack Of Pushback Alarming

January 26, 2023, 8:19 PM ET [305 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their string of success on home ice, but it took a late goal from Timothy Liljegren and an OT winner from Mitch Marner to give the Leafs a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. The win extended Toronto’s home winning streak to six games.



The Leafs took an early lead on Pontus Holmberg’s fifth goal of the season, but surrendered the lead in the middle frame, with Filip Chytil beating Ilya Samsonov off a defensive zone faceoff and after a giveaway by Mitch Marner. Toronto applied pressure throughout the game but were stymied by Igor Shesterkin (who made 32 saves on the night) until late in regulation when Liljegren dropped down from his point spot and backhanded a rebound top shelf to tie the game.

“Specifically tonight, it was hard to get clean looks to the net.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “It was a good read by (Timothy). He beat his man to get to the inside. (Shesterkin couldn’t) see the puck, which with him playing the way he was is an important factor. He made good on the shot.”



Samsonov was strong once again in his fourth straight start, keeping the game close, stopping 27 shots, and moving to an incredible 14-0-1 at home this season.

“We had high expectations, (but) nobody expects anybody to have a record like that. It is quite remarkable. It speaks a lot to his play. It speaks a lot to our team’s play just the same.” Keefe said. “It is another tough game for him. The margin for error is pretty thin. You have an elite goaltender and a countryman of his down the other end. Not unlike he did against the Islanders the other night. In both cases, he stood his ground and gave us an opportunity to win the game.”

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While the victory over the Rangers was positive, the Leafs failure to provide any pushback after the opposition took liberties was once again evident. New York blueliners K’Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren slammed Liljegren and Mark Giordano near the benches, and there was nary a response from any of their teammates on the ice.



It is obviously not in the current roster’s DNA to play a rough and tumble game, but examples of team toughness and protecting teammates have been limited to Giordano’s body slam of Travis Konecny and Michael Bunting jumping in on a few instances when Auston Matthews has been involved.



Being physical is undoubtedly in the battle plan for any team that the Leafs face and will be part of what Tampa and Boston will use in the playoffs. Getting one or two physical players at the deadline may not completely stop teams from taking runs at Matthews, Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, or Toronto defensemen, but if there is some proactive physicality or a response in kind on the Lightning/Bruins core players or defensemen, it may provide some deterrence.

The Leafs take on the Ottawa Senators on Friday.

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