Officially Eliminated From Playoff Contention as the Rangers Were Edged by the Leafs

By Daniel Feuerstein | Toronto, ON. | March 25th, 2026

The New York Rangers made a quick road trip to the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, as they took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Two teams that are floundering at the bottom of the Eastern Conference were fighting to somehow attempt to remain in the fight to make the Playoffs. For the Rangers, it has already been a lost season, as they finish out the rest of the schedule for the regular season. With this loss in the game, either in regulation, in overtime, or in the shootout, the Rangers got eliminated by the Leafs by a final score of four to three.

Game Recap

The Maple Leafs found ways to take the lead and capitalize on mistakes by the Rangers. After a strong flurry of shots in the offensive zone, the puck found its way back to the Rangers’ zone. Matthew Robertson skated back to the near corner and was ganged up on by a couple of Leafs players. Out of nowhere, Matias Maccelli took the puck away and found a trailing Jake McCabe, who glided into the slot and got the puck with a quick snap shot to beat Shesterkin at 5:15 of the first period.

Another Flurry of chances for the Rangers to tie the game, but the Leafs picked up the puck and attacked into the Rangers’zone. Max Domi skated down the middle and saw Nicholas Robertson streaking down the near side of the zone. Made a nice pass, then Robertson somehow found pay dirt as he caught Shesterkin with the shot through his pads to make it a two-goal game at 12:08 of the first period.

The Leafs lept, pouring it on the Rangers as they continued to skate very well and take advantage of their chances. Nothing was going in and the Leafs once again made a rush up the ice to create a scoring chance. After a save, Joseph Woll got the puck and made a pass to lead Matias Maccelli down the center of the ice. When they entered the Rangers’ zone, a quick pass to Dakota Josuha at the far side faceoff circle, rips a shot that nails the inside of the near post and into the net at 5:41 of the second period.

Finally, the Rangers were able to use their power play to get back into the game. Just as the power play got started, the Rangers took control after the faceoff. Adam Fox was along the top of the Leafs’ zone, skating around with the puck. He passed it toward the far boards to J.T. Miller, who skated down a bit, found Alexis Lafreniere inside the faceoff circle. Once Lafreniere turned around, he took a quick shot and finally got the Rangers on the board at 10:16 of the second period.

Towards the end of the second period, the Rangers got their second goal of the game, and were once again back on the power play. Fox retreived the puck inside the blue line of the Leafs’ zone and once again went to work. He made the pass down low to the far side to Lafreniere as he wanted to shoot, but instead made the cross-ice pass to Mika Zibanejad at the near side of the net and snapped it in. The new Power Play record holder cashed in another one at 18:01 of the second period.

The Rangers tried to tie the game up in the third period, but unfortunately, the Leafs regained the two-goal lead. John Tavares picked up the loose puck along the far boards of his own zone and started to make a sprint toward the Rangers’ end. When he reached the outside of the far faceoff circle, Tavares snapped a quick shot, and somehow he hit the back post and past Shesterkin at 11:57 of the third period. Zibanejad did score his second goal of the game at 13:04 of the third period, but unfortunately, the Rangers couldn’t find that tying goal to force overtime. Another loss on the road, and now it’s just trying to finish the season in a flourish.

Mike Sullivan’s Comments

“Told them after the game, if we play like that with those intentions, that type of intensity, we’re going to win games. You know, I thought we deserved a better fate tonight. It didn’t happen, but I thought we played a pretty good game. You talked this morning about better reloads and better forechecking. I thought we controlled territory. You know, I don’t think we gave them tons of looks. The ones we did, they tended to be off the rush. We either just didn’t manage the puck. The high ice, or just working to reload and get above the attack in a couple of situations, and they were opportunistic. Some of the ones that they got, they scored on, but I thought, for the most part, I thought the guys played hard with the right intentions,” said Mike Sullivan

MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Notched his fifth multi-goal game of the season, the most among all Rangers skaters, and surpassed Adam Graves (280) for the fourth-most goals in Rangers history (282). He surpassed Chris Kreider and tied Camille Henry for the sixth-most multi-goal games in franchise history (42). Zibanejad has scored a power play goal in two of his last three games and has collected at least one point in five of his last six games (4G-2A). His 15 power play goals this season rank fifth in the NHL.

ALEXIS LAFRENIERE: Collected his sixth three-point game of the season (1G-2A), tied for the most among all Rangers skaters. He has recorded 17 points (8G-9A) through his last 13 games. In that span, his eight goals are tied for fourth in the NHL, and his 17 points are tied for sixth.

ADAM FOX: Notched his 10th multi-assist game of the season and tied Steve Vickers for the 11th-most assists in Rangers history (340). He has registered at least one point in three of his last four games (4A) and has recorded 10 points (1G-9A) in his last nine games.

GABE PERREAULT: Tallied an assist on Zibanejad’s second goal of the night and has collected at least one point in seven of his last 10 games (2G-8A). In that span, his eight assists are tied for sixth in the NHL.

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