TORONTO — Tony DeAngelo scored in overtime as the New York Rangers beat the Maple Leafs 5-4 on Saturday, snapping Toronto’s win streak at six games.
Ryan Strome had two goal and two assists for the Rangers (19-15-4) while Artemi Panarin picked up his third assist of the night when he set up DeAngelo’s winner 51 seconds into the extra period.
Brett Howden and Mika Zibanejad also scored for New York while Alexandar Georgiev stopped 43-of-47 shots.
Auston Matthews scored twice to push the Maple Leafs (21-14-5) into overtime. William Nylander and Pierre Engvall had the others.
Toronto entered the final 20 minutes down 4-2. The Leafs pulled to within one when Engvall redirected a point shot from Tyson Barrie with 13:38 remaining.
Moments after Matthews flubbed a glorious chance to tie the game, he slammed in a pass from Nylander for the tying goal with 53 seconds remaining in the third.
After Strome put his team in front 2-1 midway through the first period, the 26-year-old native of Mississauga, Ont. scored another to give his club a two-goal lead early in the second period.
It was Strome’s fifth and sixth goals to go along with six assists in 18 career games against Toronto.
The Maple Leafs were without forward Ilya Mikheyev (wrist surgery) and Jake Muzzin (broken foot). Toronto announced before the game that Mikheyev would miss a minimum of three months to recover from a laceration to his right hand in New Jersey on Friday. He underwent surgery and spent the night in the hospital.
Muzzin blocked a shot from Devils defenceman P.K. Subban in the first period. The Toronto defender finished the game but has been listed week-to-week with a broken foot.
In Mikheyev’s absence, 23-year-old Adam Brooks made his NHL debut. The Winnipeg native played in 171 regular season and playoff games for the AHL Toronto Marlies before playing in his first NHL game.
The Maple Leafs entered the game 2-5-1 in the second game of back-to-back outings this season.
It did not start well for Toronto as Howden opened the scoring 1:41 into the game.
The Maple Leafs evened the score on the power play. From behind the net, John Tavares found Nylander out front.
But the Rangers went ahead 2-1 when Panarin picked off a pass into the middle from Engvall and set up Strome for the go-ahead goal.
The Rangers had an opportunity to go ahead by two goals, but Andersen stopped a penalty shot from Pavel Buchnevich a few shifts after Strome’s goal.
Strome lifted the Rangers to a 3-1 lead early in the second period with a 56-foot slapper.
Toronto pulled to within 3-2 when a loose puck found Matthews for his 25th of the season, but Zibanejad restored the two-goal lead with all-world fake coming down the right side to freeze Andersen and slip a shot through his pads.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2019.
Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press