Maple Leafs fall in OT to Rangers, lose ground in Atlantic

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs lost ground for second place in the Atlantic Division with a 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Frederik Andersen made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (44-25-6), who trail the Boston Bruins by seven points. The Bruins defeated the Florida Panthers 7-3 on Saturday.
"I thought we did a lot of good things tonight," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "I didn't think we got in our own way. Obviously it was a disappointing way to end. I didn't think we were as good tonight as we had been in the last two games, but we still had lots of opportunities."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Ryan Strome scored at 1:48 of overtime, and Alexandar Georgiev made 44 saves for the Rangers (29-32-13), who were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Buffalo Sabres 7-4. New York is 2-6-5 in its past 13 games.
Strome put in a pass from Boo Nieves at the side of the crease.
"We found a way to win," Strome said. "We have found ways to lose in the last couple weeks, but it was good to get one tonight. That's a good hockey team over there. We seem to play the good teams in this League real well, but it was fun to get two points and now enjoy the plane ride home. We've worked really hard the last two weeks so it's nice to get rewarded."

Georgiev made an NHL career-high 55 saves in a 4-1 win against Toronto on Feb. 10.
"I know that they're a really tough team to play, and I know that I have to bring my best game to be able to beat those guys because I have huge respect for those guys obviously," Georgiev said.
Nieves said of Georgiev, "Honestly, it's unbelievable. He made some saves where we were kind of sitting on the bench kind of feeling deflated but it got all the guys going, it got everybody up and got our energy going. He was definitely the backbone of our team tonight."

Pavel Buchnevich scored 19 seconds into the third period to put the Rangers up 1-0 when he got to the rebound of Brady Skjei's shot and put it under Andersen's pad from the top of the crease.
Zach Hyman tied it 1-1 at 8:33 when he one-timed a pass from John Tavares in the slot.
"I thought all in all we played a pretty solid game," Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews said. "There were times where we got a bit loose, but once we got back to playing and taking care of things, utilizing our speed and getting in behind them, there were points in the game where it just seemed like we had the puck the whole time. There's a lot of good things we can take away from this game."

They said it

"I just checked my phone, I've got a bunch of texts. People are happy, but they are [ticked] off with me. It's always nice to come home. It's a little bit of a whirlwind, there's a lot of people to see and it's a little hectic, but I think I'd only had one goal before in Toronto, so it's kind of nice to get one and go see my parents. I'm old news now, so I limit the tickets as much as possible." -- Rangers forward Ryan Strome, who grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, just west of Toronto
"Similar I think to the last time we played these guys, their goalie just has our number somehow. He made some unbelievable saves tonight and kept them in it and then it comes down to one play in overtime to get the extra point. It's obviously frustrating. We want that extra point." -- Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews
"I thought we played well. I thought we were playing really well in the first two periods especially making it hard on them. Unfortunately we just couldn't score." -- Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen

Need to know

Tavares was helped off the ice after being cross-checked by Rangers defenseman Marc Staal midway through the third period but did not miss a shift. … New York has played at least 21 games that have been decided in either overtime or the shootout in one season for the first time since 2008-09 (22). The Rangers are 2-9 in games decided in overtime and 6-4 in games decided in the shootout. They had lost nine straight in OT since defeating the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 11 … New York had a season-high 33 blocked shots. … Toronto forward Frederik Gauthier played in his 100th NHL game.

What's next

Rangers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, MSG, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Florida Panthers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, FS-F, NHL.TV)