Red-hot Rangers pass first big test against top-tier foe with flying colors

TORONTO — The Rangers did not flinch at their first top-tier opponent on th😼e schedule. 

The ju🔯mp in competition may have been appare🥀nt, but it hardly mattered for a Blueshirts team that has resembled a speeding locomotive to start the season.

To remain undefeated in regulati🅘on through t🏅he first five games, the Rangers took a 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena. 

“I thought it was a really good win,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “Against a good team in Toronto, it’s never an ea🍨sy thing to do.” 

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Not to diminish the Rangers’ convincing 4-0-1 start to the season, but averaging five goals a game through their first four contests may have been more indiꦜcative of the players and goalies on the other side of the ice. 

When it came down to needing a more complete game against a more complete opponent, however, the Rangers delivered behind two goals from the top six and a stellaꦛr 34-save performance from goalie Igor Shesterkin. 

The Maple Leafs, riding a three-game win streak entering the game, counted as the first playoff team from last season the Rangers 🉐h♔ave faced thus far. 

Saturday also made it three straight road wins to start the season, just the third time the Rangers have done so an💟d the first time in nearly a century (1931-32 season). 

And yet, Lavio♏lette opted to make two personnel changes despite two dominant wins over the Redꦬ Wings earlier in the week. 

Putting Matt Rempe𝓀 back in on the fourth line in place of Jonny Brodzinski and sending Chad Ruhwedel out to make his season debut instead of Zac Jones, Laviolette got a good look at his 😼D pair options with Ryan Lindgren expected to return from injured reserve in the near future. 

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Laviolette is toy🍎ing with his lineup, and the Rangers are still winning.&nbs🉐p;

That’s a luxury f♈or any te💧am, but especially the Rangers, who are clearly playing the long game. 

With Ruhwedel in, the Rangers deployed five right-hand shot defensemen for the first time since a 4-3 lossꦗ to the Je♕ts on Feb. 26, 2013, per Bob Waterman.

The circumstanc🅠es were a little d♛ifferent, considering Ryan McDonagh and Michael Del Zotto were both hurt at that time. 

Going with that alignment was a coaching decision from Laviolette, 🌜who will have to make a judgment call regarding his defense corps when Lindgren is healthy.

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To keep Victor Mancin𝔉i, a righty rookie, and risk losing Ruhwedel or Jones on waivers on the way to Hartford, or stick with the veterans. 

When you’re winning games regardless of personnel, it makes it aꦫ lot easier to weigh these options ﷺearly in the season. 

“I thought he was good, I thought he played a good game,” Laviolette said of his impressions of Mancini on his offside on the left. “Made a nice play to geꦗt an assist on the fꦗirst goal, just by pulling it from backhand to forehand, getting that puck in there.” 

The Rangers didn’t have the puck a lot through the first five minutes♉ of the game, but they recorded the first handful of quality scoring chances 🐟and suddenly began to stabilize. 

Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz was forced to make a couple big saves, including one oꦰn Chris Kreider on the doorstep and Mika Zibanejad’s follow of a rebound. It was at this ♋moment the uptick in competition was abundantly clear. 

Still, it🍎 wasn’t enough to slow down Alexis Lafreniere.

The 2020 top-overall pick collected a rebound, patiently held onto the puck and then deposiꦆted it under Stolarz’s glove to extend his point s🤡treak to five games. 

Kreider then made💎 it a 2-0 game less than halfway through the middle frame, when the longest tenured Ranger buried a slick feed from Zibanejad at the side of the Maple Le🌟afs net.

Zibanejad said he kܫnows Kreider is going to beꦜ there. 

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The Maple Leafsꦚ made a significant push in the third period, during which they poured a game-high 18 shots on Shesterkin.

Toronto captain Auston Matthews broke through to avoid the shutout, but the equalizer never came before Kreider and Artemi Panarin💞 added empty-netters. 

“You don’t want to say that you’re used to it, but he’s such a big part of our team, same with [Jonathan Quick],” Zibanejad said of Shesterkin. “He gives us a chance to𝄹 win every night.”