Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal against the New York Rangers and is joined by Tyler Bertuzz, left, and William Nylander at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12, 2023. in New York City. The Leafs defeated the Rangers 7-3.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner each scored twice, and veteran Martin Jones made 28 saves in his first start for Toronto as the surging Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Matthews added two assists and the Maple Leafs also got goals from Conor Timmins, Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf in improving to 5-0-2 in their last seven games.
Toronto led 4-1 after 20 minutes but New York scored twice late in the second period to narrow the deficit to one. Marner got his second of the night on a power play early in the third, and the Maple Leafs put it away with two late goals a night after losing 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders.
“It felt good, obviously, after a pretty emotional game last night,” Matthews said. “And coming out back-to-back playing a really good team. It was nice to finish the trip off with two points.”
Blake Wheeler scored twice and Mika Zibanejad had a power-play goal for the Rangers, who lost for the third time in four games.
“Nobody goes through a season unscathed, without having stretches that don’t go their way,” said the 37-year-old Wheeler, who joined the Rangers this season after 13 years with the Winnipeg organization. “I think it’s a great learning opportunity for our team. These things are going to happen during the course of year. It’s a matter of how you respond to it.”
Jones is backing up Toronto starter Ilya Samsonov, with Joseph Woll out due to an ankle injury. Jones came on in relief after Woll was hurt last Thursday against Ottawa, making nine saves on 10 shots for the win.
The 33-year-old Jones, who has also played for Los Angeles, San Jose, Philadelphia and Seattle, was signed as a free agent last summer. He was playing for the AHL Marlies.
“The boys came out and played hard,” Jones said. “We didn’t give them too much in the third.”
The Rangers were coming off a 4-1 home win over Los Angeles on Sunday night following road losses at Ottawa and Washington.
“The first period put us in a bad spot,” Zibanejad said. “That’s not good enough.”
Matthews and Timmins beat Igor Shesterkin just 1:15 apart early in the first. Wheeler scored 35 seconds later, but Jarnkrok and Marner scored in a span of 21 seconds late in the first to make it 4-1.
“They are a dangerous team,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t think we were very sharp. I think they were quicker than us in the first period. We didn’t get ourselves the best chance to win tonight.”
After the Rangers trimmed it to 4-3, Marner’s 11th goal of the season came at 1:29 of the third – just seven seconds after New York defenceman Erik Gustafsson went off for interference. Matthews and Morgan Rielly assisted.
Matthews got his NHL-leading 21st of the season at 17:11 before Kampf scored into an empty net at 18:33.
Matthews has seven multi-goal games this season.
“It always feels good to score, but he’s one of the best goalies in the league,” Matthews said about his successful night against Shesterkin. “I felt like he’s had my number in the last couple of seasons and this team always makes it tough on you, especially with him in net.”
Shesterkin has lost three straight, including 4-0 at Washington last Saturday and 6-2 at Ottawa last Tuesday.
Rangers defenceman K’Andre Miller was scratched due to personal reasons. Zac Jones entered the lineup in Miller’s place.
Up next
Rangers: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
Maple Leafs: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.