Georgiev makes 55 saves, Rangers end Maple Leafs winning streak
via nhl.com
Alexandar Georgiev made an NHL career-high 55 saves on his 23rd birthday, and the New York Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Georgiev’s previous career-high was 43 saves in a 5-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on March 24, 2018.
Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey, Adam McQuaid and Kevin Hayes scored, Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello each had two assists for New York (24-23-8), which went 2-2-1 on its season-long five-game homestand.
Kasperi Kapanen scored and Garret Sparks made 26 saves for Toronto (34-18-3), which had a season-high 56 shots on goal but couldn’t extend its four-game winning streak and six-game point streak (5-0-1).
It was the Maple Leafs’ first regulation loss since Jan. 20, a 4-2 defeat against the Arizona Coyotes.
The Rangers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, with 23 saves from Georgiev.
Zibanejad scored his 23rd goal of the season 28 seconds into the game to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Sparks made back-to-back saves on Zuccarello, but Zibanejad scored off the rebound of the second one after Mitchell Marner couldn’t handle the puck in the slot.
Kapanen tied it 1-1 at 10:35 of the first period with his 16th of the season on a breakaway. Kapanen intercepted Tony DeAngelo’s attempted cross-ice pass to Marc Staal at the far blue line and went in uncontested.
Vesey scored his 12th of the season 3:30 later on a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Kreider to give New York a 2-1 lead at 14:05, despite the fact Toronto held a 21-5 edge in shots on goal.
McQuaid scored his second of the season off a Maple Leafs turnover at 11:59 of the third period to make it 3-1.
Hayes scored an empty-net goal at 19:40 for the 4-1 final.
TOR with a 58% even strength Corsi-for edge #TMLtalk #NYR #TORvsNYR pic.twitter.com/zqUWryCeyS
— cold analytics (@coldanalytics) February 11, 2019
5-on-5 Shot Attempt Spread, Maple Leafs (1) vs Rangers (4), February 10
5V5 BREAKDOWN:
- Shot Attempts: 53-41 Toronto
- Unblocked Attempts: 36-33 Toronto
- Shots on Goal: 28-26 Toronto
- Scoring Chances: 29-23 Toronto
- Dangerous Chances: 14-12 Toronto pic.twitter.com/ZiGnw6cWU3— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) February 11, 2019