The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their busy October schedule with a 2-1 overtime victory against the New York Rangers on Thursday night at the Scotiabank Arena.
Maple Leafs’ goalie Anthony Stolarz led the way, keeping the struggling Rangers’ offence at bay throughout the night. The veteran netminder finished with 28 saves, many of which were of the difficult variety, including two dazzling ones off of Will Cuylle’s chances during a New York man-advantage in the first.
Rangers’ goalie Igor Shesterkin was also stingy, but on a Toronto power play, Matthew Knies deflected in a rebound from a William Nylander shot, to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead at the 11:48 mark for the only goal of the first period.
Stolarz kept the door shut in the second with one spectacular save after another, highlighted by stops against Rangers’ defenseman Vaslav Gavrikov, the snake-bit Cuylle, and a sprawling point-blank one against Sam Carrick in the waning minutes.
The Rangers carried most of the play in the second, but Stolarz’s effort allowed Toronto to take its one-goal lead into the third.
New York kept pressing, and finally, at the 4:51 mark, they broke their eight-period scoreless streak. Jusso Parssinen deflected a Braden Schneider shot past a stick-less Stolarz to make it 1-1. Toronto survived the continued Rangers’ onslaught and, for the first time this season, headed to overtime.
From there, it did not take long, just under a minute into the extra frame, Austin Matthews tapped in a Nylander pass for the game-winner.
The Leafs’ next game is against the Kraken, Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.
