Rangers blitzed by Maple Leafs in third straight loss

Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev was supposed to be the Rangers’ secret weapon.

After two stellar performances last season against the Maple Leafs —when he stopped 99 of 101 shots on goal — Georgiev was the go-to netminder for Friday night’s matchup with Toronto at Madison Square Garden. But Georgiev, who was making his sixth start in the past eight games, couldn’t make up for the disarray in front of him as the Rangers lost 6-3.

“I didn’t love any part of our game tonight,” coach David Quinn said following the Rangers’ third straight defeat. “[Georgiev has] been really good for us, probably a game that he’d like to be a little bit better in. But we didn’t do him any favors.”

Just as Georgiev, who stopped 34 of the 40 shots he faced, was beginning to see an uptick in playing time, he tied his season-high of six goals allowed. As inopportune as that was for Georgiev, this was not a loss to blame entirely on the Bulgarian netminder.

The Rangers were outshot 40-22 and gave the puck away 23 times. They went 0-for-3 on the power play, extending their streak to nine man-advantage opportunities without a goal. Toronto posted 12 takeaways, though it felt like there were at least 10 more.

“They were playing a little different from last year,” Georgiev said. “But at the same time, it’s the same offensive-minded team. They managed to score some good goals. … It was a tough opponent today.”

Georgiev, who is no longer waiver-exempt after playing his 60th NHL game, said he still felt sharp despite allowing six goals and hopes to rebound from the loss.
The Rangers played like two different teams in the first period:

First, a group that gives the puck up easily and resorts to risky passes when things are looking tough took the ice for the first 12 minutes or so. The Maple Leafs had their way with them, going up 2-0 on goals from Pierre Engvall and William Nylander.

Then something clicked and the Rangers found their game with just enough time to climb out of the hole.

Chris Kreider hit a cutting Brady Skjei, who didn’t quite have possession, but managed to push the puck between the legs of Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen to trim the Rangers’ deficit to 2-1. Less than four minutes later, Ryan Strome buried a short pass from Artemi Panarin at 17:51 to knot the game at 2-all. It was Pavel Buchnevich who hit Panarin from behind Toronto’s net, registering his first assist since Nov. 20 against the Capitals.

No momentum, however, carried over into the middle frame. In fact, Skjei was absolutely dangled by Marner on one of the first shifts of the second, forcing Georgiev to come up with the save. Back-to-back penalties against Zibanejad and Brendan Smith allowed Toronto to regain the lead on a 5-on-3 tally from Marner at 2:50.

“I just thought our attention to detail against this team really was poor,” Quinn said. “Things we hadn’t been doing really. Just really sloppy, not recognizing situations, turnovers, really playing east-west more so than we have been lately. In my mind, one of our [more] poor performances in a while.”

Buchnevich tied the game at three at 5:27 of the second, allowing the Rangers to take an even score into the locker room before the final frame. But third-period tallies from Nylander, Marner and Illya Mikheyev capped the scoring and handed the Rangers their third-straight loss.

“The fourth one was a huge goal for them,” Georgiev said. “They managed to score it and from that moment on it was an open game.”