John Tavares made twice and added an assist to become the eighth active player to reach 1,100 career points when the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs recorded a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday.
Tavares scored Toronto’s first goal during the first period and netted the tiebreaking goal 4:16 to the second to help Maple Leafs (42-24-3, 87 points) win their third straight.
Tavares noted their sixth multigoal game this season and banded a season high with three points by setting a goal by Bobby Mcmann, who had two points.
Matthew Knies also did and Jack McCabe gathered a career high three assists by setting Toronto’s first three goals. William Nylander contributed two assists and reached 600 career points by setting Tavare’s first goal.
Will Borgen scored at the last minute of the first and Artemi Panarin scored his eighth goal in an 11-game points strip early in the second when Rangers (33-31-6, 72 points) dropped his third straight and fell to 2-5-2 in its last nine.
Chris Kreider added a goal at the last minute after goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin was pulled, but Rangers dropped his fifth straight home game (0-4-1).
Toronto goalkeeper Anthony Stolz made 27 rescues, while Shesterkin stopped 24 shots.
Tavares opened the point with just over seven minutes left in the opening period after Nylander beat the New York defender K’Andre Miller to a loose puck along the boards in the defensive zone.
Maple Leafs quickly moved up the ice and Tavare’s completed sequence by moving to the edge of the left circle and hammering a shot over Shesterkin’s glove after a cross session from McCabe.
The castle made a shot from the right point that knocked into the right post with 48 seconds left to tie it. Mcmann made 38 seconds later when he had his back to Schesterkin and died a shot from Tavares after the puck was also redirected by McCabe.
Panarin hammered a recovery into the vacant right side of the net 82 seconds into the middle period for a 2-2 tie but Maple Leaf’s capitalized on error and regained control.
After defenders Adam Fox and Carson Soucy collided in front of the web, skating lightly in the right circle and put a shot of Shesterkin 4:16 in the other.
Maple Leafs extended his lead with 5:34 when Knies came from the bench on a line change, took Nylanders Backhand pass behind the net at the right circle and whipped a shot over Shesterkin.
-Field level media
