Rangers 5, Maple Leafs 2
By Dave Buscema, The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK -- Marc Staal's first goal of the season tied the game in the third period. His hard shot a few minutes later was deflected and poked in by teammate Marian Gaborik to give the New York Rangers a come-from-behind 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Brian Boyle later added a goal and Gaborik added his second, an empty-netter, to lock up the win for the Rangers (2-3-0), who outshot the Maple Leafs 42-17, but trailed 2-0 after the first period.
Gaborik and Del Zotto also had two assists apiece, as did Rick Nash. Brad Richards scored his second goal of the year for New York, which got 15 saves from Henrik Lundqvist.
Mikhail Grabovski and James van Riemsdyk scored goals for Toronto (2-3-0) while John-Michael Liles had two assists. James Reimer made 37 saves for Toronto.
Gaborik officially scored the Rangers' go-ahead goal, when he got his stick on Staal's hard drive from the left point, deflecting it and sneaking it past Reimer's right side for a 3-2 lead at the 12:57 mark of the third period.
The goal came nearly five minutes after Staal tied the game 2-2 for New York.
That score came at the 7:36 mark of the third, when Staal finished off a slick exchange started by Gaborik, who fed Del Zotto to Reimer's right. Del Zotto then fed Staal in front of the net and the Rangers wiped out what had been a 2-0 deficit on the defenseman's first goal of the season.
For the first two periods, the Rangers wasted several chances as Reimer made 25 saves entering the third while the Leafs had nine shots in that time.
The Rangers closed within 2-1 at the 5:43 mark of the second period, when Richards finally broke through after Reimer stopped a flurry of shots. Gaborik and Nash got assists on the goal, Richards' second of the season.
But Reimer frequently thwarted shots, even from close range, one after the other. New York was 0-for-4 on the power play through the first two periods, making them just 2-for-22 on the season.
Despite outshooting the Maple Leafs 14-3 in the first period, the Rangers found themselves down 2-0 entering the first intermission.
Grabovski took a pass from Liles in front of the net and deked Lundqvist before poking the puck past him on Toronto's first shot of the night, at the 6:25 mark.
Near the end of the first, Toronto took advantage of a sloppy line shift resulting in a Rangers penalty for too many men on the ice. The Leafs scored on the power play when Van Riemsdyk poked in a rebound on Liles' shot, giving Toronto a 2-0 lead with 2:45 left in the first.
NOTES: The Rangers signed free agent center Jason Arnott, 38, according to multiple reports. Arnott signed for one year at between $1.6-1.7 million, according to TSN, which first reported the move, pending a physical. Rangers coach John Tortorella declined comment before the game, saying there was not a completed deal for Arnott, who scored 17 goals and had 34 points for the St. Louis Blues last season. For his career, Arnott has scored 417 goals in 1,244 games. ... Rangers forward Arron Asham returned after missing two games with a groin injury. He got into a fight with Mike Brown four minutes into the first period, each landing several shots before Asham fell to the ice. Two seconds later, Rangers center Mike Rupp and Leafs forward Colton Orr also landed some strong blows, with Orr coming out on top at the end. ... Rangers defenseman Chris Kreider was out with a bone chip in his ankle. Tortorella said the injury wasn't serious, but expected Kreider to remain out at least a few days. ... The Rangers' newly acquired forward Benn Ferriero was called up from AHL affiliate Connecticut. ... Reimer started in goal instead of Ben Scrivens, one of several shifts the Leafs made after losing to the Islanders 7-4 on Thursday. Scrivens had allowed five goals on 25 shots against the Islanders before Reimer relieved him.
