Andersen, Lundqvist put on a show
RANGERS 2 LEAFS 1 (SO)
When Toronto Maple Leafs’ goaltender Frederik Andersen got congrats from his teammates after the overtime, the extra point in the standings was already a secondary thought for the crowd at the ACC.
The 71- save effort of both goalies was worth the entertainment dollar on its own, before the Rangers won the 2-1 shootout on goals by Mats Zuccarello and Mika Zibanejad. Auston Matthews scored for the Leafs.
Both goalies — Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers and Andersen — stopped overtime breakaways by their respective big guns.
The result did underline that Andersen won’t get the Leafs in the playoffs by himself. For all Toronto’s offensive gifts, the breakout errors and scoring chances they give to the opposition continue to prevent them from moving up the conference ladder, more than one point in the case of Thursday.
That was made evident again Thursday with the Rangers’ victory. The Leafs did get it together and came close to a regulation win when Zach Hyman fed Morgan Rielly, who played in excess of 24 regulation minutes, for a shot off the crossbar.
Andersen’s potential shutout almost survived a third period call on Nikita Zaitsev, for a whack at a breaking Zuccarello, who was trying to build on his 16 points in 12 games against Toronto. But J.T. Miller banged in a rebound as Zaitsev exited the box.
Not that this stat can be laid at the feet of this year’s Leafs, but they became the first club in NHL history to allow 20,000 regular season goals. Montreal, by comparison, is barely over 17,000 as the leanest times in the past 50 Cup-less years for Toronto have come back to haunt the franchise in getting to such a depth.
Andersen established himself in the first period when the Rangers pressed or his mates were too careless with the puck. Toronto’s league- leading power play was one of his biggest culprits with sloppy play in the defensive zone. Ex- Leaf Michael Grabner had a great chance on the penalty kill, but Andersen stretched back across the crease and got a pad on the low drive.
Lundqvist came into the game on a high, a record of 9- 2-1 and .936 save percentage to give the Rangers plenty of playoff cushion. But when it comes to the Leafs, strange things have happened. His career . 901 career percentage against the Leafs is his lowest other than his mark against the Canadiens and wide open hockey often results when he’s in the cage and Toronto is in the house.
When the Rangers left the Leafs too much room on the perimeter, Connor Brown tied the game when he banged in a rebound on a Jake Gardiner shot. It gave the Leafs four rookies with 15 or more goals in for the first season in team history and for Brown, just making it to his 60th game was worth a US$50,000 bonus.