King has regained throne since last visit to Toronto

TORONTO — Unlike the last time the Rangers were here, five weeks ago to the day, Henrik Lundqvist’s name and game are no longer followed by question marks.

Instead, they’re exclamation points for the goaltender who is expected to be in nets for Thursday’s match against the Maple Leafs.

Lundqvist was at the nadir of his career entering the Jan. 19 contest, having allowed 16 goals on 76 shots in 138:18 over his previous three games. But he began the road back with a 4-2 victory that night, kicking off a stretch in which he has gone 9-2-1 with .936 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average in 13 starts.

The Rangers come into this one 7-1-1 in their last nine after dropping Tuesday’s 3-2 shootout to the Canadiens at the Garden. That marked the club’s fourth shootout of the season (2-2), and first since Dec. 18. Mats Zuccarello, the lone Ranger to beat Carey Price, has scored in three of the four competitions.

The Maple Leafs, 3-3-1 in their last seven, are expected to be without splendid rookie Mitch Marner, who is on IR with a suspected right shoulder injury. Their other splen- did rookies, Auston Matthews and William Nylander, are expected to be in the lineup.

Though Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller combined for the 2-on-1 on which Price robbed Miller in the final second of overtime Tuesday, their line with Michael Grabner struggled throughout most of regulation.

Pavel Buchnevich got 8:23 on the fourth line with Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast plus 3:00 on the power play. Lindberg, who scored the Blueshirts’ first goal, played just 7:41.

Brady Skjei, who picked up the f irst assist on Lindberg’s goal, leads NHL rookies with 22 even-strength assists and is fourth among all defensemen trailing only the elite Brent Burns (25), Erik Karlsson (24) and Duncan Keith (24) in that category.