Rangers give up four first-period goals in 7-3 loss to Maple Leafs
NEW YORK (AP) — Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner each scored twice, and veteran Martin Jones made 28 saves in his first start for Toronto as the Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Matthews added two assists and the Maple Leafs also got goals from Conor Timmins and Calle Jarnkrok in improving to 5-0-2 in their last seven games.
Toronto led 4-1 after 20 minutes but New York scored twice in the second period to narrow the deficit to one before Marner got his second of the night on a power play early in the third.
Blake Wheeler scored twice and Mika Zibanejad had a goal for the Rangers, who lost for the third time in four games.
Jones is backing up Toronto starter Ilya Samsonov, with Joseph Woll out due to an ankle injury. Jones came on in relief after Woll was hurt last Thursday against Ottawa, making nine saves on 10 shots for the win. The 33-year-old Jones, who has also played for Los Angeles, San Jose, Philadelphia and Seattle, was signed as a free agent last summer. He was playing for the AHL Marlies.
The Rangers were coming off a 4-1 home win over Los Angeles on Sunday night following road losses at Ottawa and Washington.
Matthews and Timmins beat Igor Shesterkin just 1:15 apart early in the first period. Wheeler scored 35 seconds later, but Jarnkrok and Marner scored in a span of 11 seconds late in the first to make it 4-1.
After the Rangers trimmed it to 4-3, Marner’s 11th goal of the season came at 1:29 of the third — just seven seconds after Rangers defenseman Erik Gustafsson went off for interference. Matthews and Morgan Rielly assisted.
Matthews got his NHL-leading 21st of the season at 17:11 before Kampf scored into an empty net at 18:33.
Matthews has seven multi-goal games this season.
The Maple Leafs lost 4-3 in overtime against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Monday night after tying the game in the waning seconds.
Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller was scratched due to personal reasons. Zac Jones entered the lineup in Miller’s place.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
Maple Leafs: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
