TORONTO – Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves as the New York Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday.

Chris Kreider, with two, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin scored for New York (4-0-1). Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith each had two assists.

Auston Matthews responded for Toronto (3-2-0). Anthony Stolarz stopped 25 shots.

Shesterkin made several big stops throughout the night, including against John Tavares and a couple against William Nylander.

Matthews, who led the NHL with 69 goals last season, broke the Russian goaltender’s shutout push in the third period when he scored his second goal of the 2024-25 season to cut New York’s lead to 2-1, before Kreider and Panarin shot into the empty net.

The game featured two league heavyweights in Leafs winger Ryan Reaves and Rangers counterpart Matt Rempe, who put up a memorable battle at Scotiabank Arena last season, but the struggling forwards didn’t drop the gloves.

souvenir

The Leafs went 0-for-9 with two goals on the power play in Wednesday’s 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, but failed to score against the Rangers and fell to 2-for-2 in the 2024-25 season. 16 back.

The Rangers won their first three road games to start a season for the third time in franchise history – and the first time in 92 years. New York also achieved this feat in 1927–28 and 1931–32.

KEY MOMENT

Leafs forward Max Domi missed a great chance to score on a 3-on-1 in the second period before Kreider made it 2-0 moments later with a delayed penalty off a smooth pass from Zibanejad.

KEY STATUS

Lafreniere has recorded at least one point in each of his first five contests entering the 2024-25 season, making him the second-longest season-opening point streak by a 23-year-old Rangers player, behind Tomas Sandstrom (1986-87) and Mike McEwen (1978-79). or younger. Darren Turcotte (1990-91) tops the list with a record of 11 games.

NEXT

Maple Leafs: Complete a four-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

Rangers: Complete a three-game losing streak when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

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