Jaroslav Halak allows three third-period goals in Rangers' 3-2 loss
NEW YORK (AP) — Noel Acciari scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, Joseph Woll made 22 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in the season finale for both teams.
Acciari nudged the puck past goalie Jaroslav Halak with 7:39 left to snap a tie and send the Maple Leafs into the playoffs with a 5-0-1 record in their last six games.
Rangers forward Filip Chytil appeared to tie it with 1.9 seconds left, but officials ruled he kicked the puck into the net.
Timothy Liljegren and William Nylander also scored for Toronto. Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers.
Panarin put the Rangers up 2-1 at 6:26 of the third with assists to Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad, but Nylander scored his 40th for Toronto at 7:48.
Kakko scored at 1:38 of the second as he beat Woll for his 18th of the season with an assist by Vincent Trocheck.
Liljegren tied it at 3:09 of the third with his sixth.
The Rangers finished 47-22-13, third in the Metropolitan Division with 107 points. New York will face the Devils in the first round of the playoffs.
Toronto finished second in the Atlantic Division with 111 points, good for home ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round. The Maple Leafs are making their seventh-straight playoff appearance, but haven’t won a series since 2004.
NOTES: Seven Rangers (Fox, Barclay Goodrow, Kakko, Panarin, Trocheck, Jacob Trouba, Zibanejad) played all 82 games, the third time since 1958-59 New York had seven or more players play every contest. … The Maple Leafs rested captain John Tavares and also scratched forward Sam Lafferty, defensemen Mark Giordano and Erik Gustafsson plus goaltenders Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov. The Rangers scratched defenseman Ben Harpur.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Vs. New Jersey in playoffs.
Maple Leafs: Vs. Tampa Bay in playoffs.
