Rangers rock Maple Leafs 6-2 in final game before NHL Trade Deadline: takeaways
With the clocking ticking toward the NHL Trade Deadline, the New York Rangers played with a depleted lineup Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. But that didn’t stop them from skating past the woeful reeling Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2.
Jaroslav Chmelar’s first NHL goal highlighted a four-goal third period for the Rangers, who broke open a 2-2 tie and pulled away from their Original Six foe. Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad sandwiched goals around Chmelar’s milestone tally, and Will Cuylle scored into the empty net for his second goal of the night.
The Rangers (24-29-8) played without injured captain J.T. Miller, as well as veteran centers Vincent Trocheck and Sam Carrick. The latter two were scratched for roster management purposes. The trade deadline arrives at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, and there’s a good chance the Rangers trade Trocheck.
After the game, Carrick was traded to the Buffalo Sabres for a pair of picks in this year’s draft, a third-round selection and a sixth-rounder.
But the Rangers found a way to defeat another struggling team which plans on being a seller Friday, as well. The Blueshirts won for the first time in regulation on home ice since Nov. 24, and are 2-0-2 since the Olympic break.
Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves, and Lafreniere earned First Star honors with three points (one goal, two assists).
The Maple Leafs wasted no time taking the lead, on Matias Maccelli’s backdoor slam dunk just 13 seconds into the game. William Nylander, who was awfully quiet otherwise, made the slick pass through the crease to set up Maccelli’s 12th goal of the season and second in as many nights after he scored against the New Jersey Devils in a 4-3 shootout loss Wednesday.
Just 25 seconds later, Maccelli slashed Will Borgen, but the Rangers did nothing with the ensuing power play. They did, however, tie the score with an even-strength goal at 6:45 of the first period.
Cuylle scored his 14th goal with a neat tip on Braden Schneider’s drive, and that 1-1 tie carried to the first intermission, even though the Rangers were outshot 10-4.
The Maple Leafs again took a one-goal lead, when rookie forward Easton Cowan snapped his eighth goal of the season off Shesterkin’s blocker and in 5:27 into the second. And once again, Toronto took a penalty on the following shift. But this time, the Rangers capitalized on the power play.
New York’s second unit came through, when Vladislav Gavrikov buried a juicy rebound at 7:29, after Taylor Raddysh drove a shot in-close off Joseph Woll’s pads. The assist was Raddysh’s third point (one goal, two assists) in the past four games since the Olympic break.
The Rangers took their first lead at 5:38 of the third period. Zibanejad sailed a shot toward the net, and Lafreniere deflected it past Woll for his 14th goal, and fourth in six games.
That opened the floodgates against the freefalling Maple Leafs, who are 0-4-2 since the break. Chmelar scored an unassisted beauty at 10:25 for his first NHL goal. And Lafreniere returned to the favor by setting up Zibanejad’s team-leading 25th goal at 11:19.
Cuylle called game by burying his 15th goal into the empty Toronto net at 17:09.
So, after a feel-good night at MSG, the attention shifts to the business side of things Friday. What will the Rangers do ahead of the deadline in the next step of their retool?
Stay tuned.
Key takeaways after Rangers defeat Maple Leafs 6-2
Jaro won’t forget his first
We haven’t seen such unbridled joy from someone wearing the home blue at Madison Square Garden this season like we did Thursday, when the ear-to-ear smile wouldn’t come off Chmelar’s face. The 22-year-old was still so excited postgame about scoring his first NHL goal that he told reporters “I don’t know if I’m going to sleep tonight.”
Boy, did the Rangers ever need a moment like this. Especially at home, at MSG. And especially the night before some popular teammates likely will leave the organization.
Good for Chmelar. Good for the Rangers. Good for the fan base.
And by the way, it’s been a sneaky good season for the fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. He received top-six minutes quite often this season with Hartford of the American Hockey League, and is fourth on the Wolf Pack with 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 46 games. The rugged 6-foot-4, 226-pound forward got into a fight in his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings back in November, and now has a goal in his seventh NHL game.
“The emotions after that were amazing. I can’t even describe it”
The Cool Kid
The rest of this season for the Rangers is not about trying to make a miracle run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They’re playing better, yes, perhaps in part because the pressure is off. So, this isn’t about a playoff push the final 21 games. But it should be about the kids.
So, Gabe Perreault’s three-point effort Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Chmelar’s first NHL goal Thursday are tangible good things and signs of hope for the retooling Rangers.
But let’s not overlook Cuylle. Yes, this is already his third NHL season, and he’s played 227 games, as well as some big ones in the 2024 playoffs, and has a 20-goal campaign on his resume. But he’s just 24, and proving every day that he’s an important part of the Rangers core now, and moving forward.
Cuylle was a handful against the Maple Leafs. This was his second two-goal game of the season, and he also led the Rangers with five shots on goal and eight attempts. Don’t lose sight of the fact that he took a shot off his skate/ankle roughly eight minutes into the second period and was in legit distress, but yet didn’t miss a shift the rest of the night. That’s another clear sign of Cuylle emerging as a young leader on this team.
This next six weeks or so are a big deal for him, too.
Welcome back
Adam Edstrom returned to the Rangers lineup after missing 33 games with a lower-body injury. He played 13 shifts and logged 8:54 TOI in his first game since Nov. 29. Edstrom also recorded two hits and was on ice for Chmelar’s goal.
“So I’ve been going through some struggles. … Just kind of something that blew up again in practice, so it was something that they just thought I should take care of now instead of keep on playing through it,” explained Edstrom, who also missed 31 games last season with a lower-body injury. “It’s always tough to miss time, but I feel way better now.”
The 6-foot-7 forward played on the fourth line with Chmelar and Juuso Parssinen, who was back in a Rangers uniform for the first time since Nov. 22. The 25-year-old cleared waivers, was assigned to Hartford, and then missed significant time with a pair of injuries. Parssinen turned it on recently with four goals in five games for the Wolf Pack
Against the Maple Leafs, Parssinen logged 9:23 TOI, won two of four face-offs, and took a hooking penalty in the first period.
