45 Leafs shots aren’t enough to beat Georgiev
It was hard to believe Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev entered Saturday’s game against the Leafs with a relatively low .909 save percentage, after he played Superman against the Leafs again and led New York to a 2-1 overtime victory.
Georgiev stopped 44 of 45 shots, giving him 99 stops in two games against Toronto, and Ryan Strome scored the winner 1:48 into the extra period after a brilliant save by Toronto’s Frederik Andersen.
It was another superb performance for Georgiev, who made 55 saves against the Leafs last month in New York during a 4-1 Rangers win.
Toronto peppered Georgiev with 23 shots through two periods, then turned things up in the third, but Zach Hyman was the lone Leaf to score.
Pavel Buchnevich scored the game’s first goal 19 seconds into the third period, and Hyman tied it a little more than eight minutes later.
Then Georgiev made sure the Rangers got to overtime.
The problem? Toronto, while buzzing around the Rangers’ net, did relatively little to block Georgiev’s view. The Rangers goalie, who is being groomed to take over from Henrik Lundqvist, proved that if he could see the puck he could stop it.
To the lab: So, once again, the Leafs’ playoff readiness will be examined and dissected after a close loss to a team that had lost 11 of its previous 12 games.
At the very least, the Leafs will be talking about creating more traffic in front of the opposition net. There shouldn’t be need to question much else. Toronto has the speed and goaltending to match any team in the league. But the Leafs needed the so-called dirty goal on Saturday, a tip or a rebound.
A Hyman high: Hyman reached a new career high in goals when he tapped in a rebound midway through the third period. He now has 19 goals and counting. It’s a big deal for the Leafs, who are likely to use the line of Hyman, John Tavares and Mitch Marner against Boston’s big line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand in the playoffs. The Hyman-Tavares-Marner trio has produced 85 goals and 204 points for Toronto.
Hold your breath: Tavares took a massive cross-check in the back from Rangers defenceman Marc Staal in the third period, which was a scary mo- ment for the Leafs. Tavares was obviously hurt, leaving the ice bent over in pain. But he took a breather on the bench and was out for the ensuing power play. Staal took a minor for his stickwork.
Injury update: There was some concern over the progress of Jake Gardiner, who has missed 13 games now with a back injury. Gardiner was not on the ice for the morning skate. He had skated with the team’s skills coaches Friday morning.
“He didn’t skate (Saturday), so I don’t know,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said, when asked for an update.
“We just talked this morning, ‘How’s the kid, how’s life.’ I didn’t ask him about (the injury).”
Martin Marincin, meanwhile, missed a third straight game with the flu.
Up next: Monday vs. Florida, 7 p.m.