Rangers’ road woes continue as Maple Leafs win 5-4 on last-minute goal

The New York Rangers found another way to lose on the road. Their winless streak away from Madison Square Garden reached five games (0-4-1) when defenseman Troy Stetcher scored with 27.5 seconds remaining to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 5-4 victory at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.

Alexis Lafreniere’s goal with 5:35 remaining in the third period lifted the Rangers into a 4-4 tie. But Toronto controlled the play in the final minute, and with a delayed penalty call against New York’s Tye Kartye in effect, the Leafs lifted goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for an extra attacker. Stetcher raced into the right circle and ripped a shot that appeared to hit a Ranger and deflect upward past goaltender Dylan Garand.

It was Stetcher’s first goal in 33 games and lifted the Maple Leafs to their third straight win.

Toronto got a career-best three-point night (one goal, two assists) from fourth-liner Brandon Duhaime. Easton Cowan, Teddy Blueger and Kirill Marchenko also scored for Toronto, which outshot the Rangers 36-25. Bobrovsky made 21 saves for his 459th NHL win — tying Rangers Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist for sixth all-time.

Adam Fox capped a four-assist night by setting up Lafreniere’s tying goal. Mika Zibanejad,Oliver Bjorkstrand and Kartye had the other goals for the Rangers. Garand finished with 31 saves and was the biggest reason the Blueshirts had a chance to get at least a point.

The Rangers are 6-0-0 at home but haven’t won away from Madison Square Garden since defeating the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 on Oct. 2. They finish their two-game tour of Ontario with a visit to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.

Rangers’ road struggles continue as Leafs score late for 5-4 win

Toronto took advantage of a sloppy change on defense to grab the lead just 1:36 after the opening face-off. Jake McCabe found Cowan just as the second-year forward hit the blue line; he split the defense pair of Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson before beating Garand with a perfect wrist shot high past the goalie’s glove for a 1-0 lead.

It was Toronto’s first shot of the game. The Rangers held the Leafs shotless for the next 5:15, and by that time the score was tied 1-1.

The Blueshirts got even at 5:39 when Zibanejad set up in the slot and got a tip on Vladislav Gavrikov’s shot from the left point, deflecting it past Bobrovsky for his third of the season and first at even strength.

But the Rangers’ defense sprung another leak midway through the period, and Toronto again took advantage.

The Leafs’ fourth line, which hadn’t produced a goal all season, struck at 10:01 when Blueger was left all alone in front of Garand. Duhaime slid the puck to him, and Blueger beat Garand through the pads to make it 2-1.

The Rangers had the better of territorial play for the rest of the period, but only a couple of 10-bell saves by Garand kept the deficit to one goal. The rookie goaltender stopped Duhaime, who had raced down right wing untouched and cut to the net, then used his glove to foil Toronto star Auston Matthews, who again was left alone in front of the net.

Bjorkstrand got the Rangers even 2:37 into the second period after another breakdown by the Toronto defense. Justin Dowling drove down the right side, cut to the front of the net and swiped the puck at Bobrovsky as he was falling. Gavin McKenna, the first player taken in the 2026 NHL Draft, didn’t stay with Bjorkstrand, who was left all alone and quickly put the puck into the net.

Garand and Gavrikov preserved the tie less than a minute later. Marchenko led a 2-on-1 rush, but Garand stopped his rocket from the right circle. The rebound came to Morgan Rielly, who fired toward what looked like an open net — only to have Gavrikov deflect the puck into the netting.

The Rangers took their first lead of the night at 6:30 on another deflection goal, this one by Kartye. He was in a pile of bodies in the slot and got a piece of Fox’s wrister from the right point, tipping it down and past Bobrovsky for a 3-2 lead.

But the Leafs needed just 90 seconds to get even. Duhaime scored his first goal in 66 games when he grabbed his own rebound after a big stop by Garand and banged it past the defenseless goaltender to make it 3-3.

The Rangers went more than seven minutes without a shot on goal after Taylor Raddysh’s long wrister at 9:33, though both Pavel Dorofeyev and J.T. Miller hit posts during that stretch. But the Leafs began controlling play in the later stages of the second period, forcing Garand to make another big stop on Matthews and disrupt William Nylander enough on a breakaway to lift the puck over the crossbar.

The Rangers entered the game second in the NHL in penalty killing at 94.1 percent, but Toronto capitalized on the game’s first power play to take the lead with 51 seconds remaining in the period. With Lafreniere off for hooking, Garand made a save on Marchenko’s high shot from the slot but couldn’t control the rebound. Marchenko found it and knocked it in to put the Leafs ahead 4-3 after two periods.

Neither team converted on a power-play opportunity early in the third period; however, the Leafs seemed to be in charge as the period passed the halfway mark.

Garand kept it a one-goal game when he robbed Cowan with just over 6:30 remaining, and Lafreniere tied it less than a minute later with his long shot through traffic. Garand nearly got the Rangers a point with two more big saves, but Stetcher’s goal spoiled those hopes and triggered an eruption from the crowd of 18,782.

Related Headlines

• Rangers sign veteran center Luke Glendening to 1-year contract
• Rangers lines, notes, how to watch Original 6 road game vs. Maple Leafs
• Ron Duguay, former Rangers player and broadcaster, dies at age 69

Read more at Forever Blueshirts