The Rangers got off to a brutal start with a loss to the Maple Leafs

NHL

E Mollie Walker

It was said that the first minutes of the hockey game set the tone, and the Rangers came away with a quick loss on Tuesday against one of the other best teams in the East, the Maple Leafs.

It didn’t hurt to pull the Blues shirt on twice, as this game – a 7-3 loss in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden – was out of their hands at the end of the season. lead time.

The Rangers could not recover from a weak opening 20 minutes, which ended with only four shots on goal and fell into a 4-1 hole.

“The first time put us in a bad position for the rest of the game,” said Mika Zibanejad, who scored one of the Rangers’ two goals in the second period. on the power play.

Losers of three of their last four, the Rangers are now 7-1 in their first four games.

The slow start is close to becoming the norm for the Rangers, who are experiencing their first real loss of the season 27 games in.

The Maple Leafs quickly beat the Rangers, who were without defenseman K’Andre Miller for personal reasons, as well as Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil (both of whom are on long-term injury reserves).

The visitors gained control of the puck and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 5:07 on goals by Auston Matthews and Conor Timmins, a wrister off the top of the the zone where Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin passed. .

Blake Wheeler’s 2-1 goal provided little momentum for the Rangers, who gave up two more goals 21 seconds later in the first period.

It marked one of their worst seasons of the season.

“I don’t think we’re sharp enough, I don’t think it’s been our best season,” head coach Peter Laviolette said after the Rangers gave up a game-high seven goals. “Playing a good team, they were faster than us in the first half. The chances they got, they took advantage of.”

However, the Rangers are still looking for ways to keep them in the game.

Wiles scored his first two Ranger goals, including a key late in the middle frame that made it a 4-3 game.

Shesterkin, who had a rough first time without much help from the players in front of him, made a big hit on Bobby McMann on the Toronto jumper during the Rangers’ substitution.

That put the Rangers on the other side, Zibanejad was able to feed the onrushing Lightning for his second goal of the game, a beautiful shot from the right circle.

Wheeler gave a rousing shout at the Swedish centre-back before the pair came together to celebrate.

At that point, the Rangers just had to go out and win a third time, Laviolette said.

Instead, Erik Gustafsson took a foul early on to send Toronto to the power play, where Mitchell Marner scored his second of the night.

Matthews scored his second goal of the game later in the period before David Kampf scored to seal the win.

“They’re a dangerous team,” Laviolette said of the Maple Leafs, who are fourth in the NHL with 35 points. “There are two interesting goals. There are two drawbacks. We broke into the neutral zone with one of the goals. We were poor in front of our net with one goal.

“They scored some nice goals throughout the night and that was enough to add to us not being where we should be.”