Currently riding a five-game winning streak on own ice, the Toronto Maple Leafs (2nd in Atlantic Division) will continue their ongoing homestand with a fixture against the New York Rangers (3rd in Metropolitan), who have collected points in five straight games away from home.
The New York Rangers (26-14-7) snatched their second win in the past three games (2-1-0) and their seventh in the last 10 (7-2-1) after clobbering the Florida Panthers with a count of 6-2 at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Mika Zibanejad (22 goals, 49 points this year) scored twice and picked up an assist for the Blueshirts, who tallied four consecutive snipes, including two in a span of 14 seconds in the third period, after the visitors tied the game at 1-1 at the start of the opening frame. It was the first win in three home games for New York (1-2-0), which is 3-0-2 on its previous five travels.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves and almost buried an empty-netter on Monday, taking his current performance total to 21-8-6 for the season with a 2.44 GAA and a .918 save percentage. He has recorded a 4-1-0 career tally against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 1.99 GAA and a .938 save percentage. The Rangers, meanwhile, are scoring the 16th highest quantity of goals per game this year (3.17), while conceding the 4th lowest amount on the defensive end (2.62). They are 16th in power play with a 22.2% success rate and 12th in penalty kill with 80.6% efficiency.