On Tuesday night, there was a big matchup at Madison Square Garden. It pitted two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference against each other. The New York Rangers hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs at 33rd and 7th Avenue in the Big Apple.

Unfortunately, a lackluster start doomed the Rangers in a 7-3 loss to the Maple Leafs on Dec. 12. Playing for the third time in four days, they weren’t ready to go from the outset. With the Leafs having just played the New York Islanders the night before in a 4-3 overtime loss, it was inexcusable. The Rangers had the previous day off. You wouldn’t have known it by how poorly they played.

Puck Watching Leads to Lousy First Period

On a night where they were without defenseman K’Andre Miller (personal reasons), the Rangers didn’t play well defensively. The most frustrating part was the amount of puck watching they did that led to a lousy first period against a dangerous opponent.

It didn’t matter that Miller was out. The amount of stick checking from players in Rangers’ jerseys was mind-numbing. It was no way to approach the very skilled Leafs. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner combined for four goals and three assists in the game. Each scored in a four-goal first period from the Leafs.

On a delayed penalty on Blake Wheeler, a few Rangers’ skaters watched William Nylander skate right through and easily set up Matthews for the Leafs’ first goal less than four minutes into the game.

The lack of urgency from established players such as Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Erik Gustafsson, and Wheeler was incredulous. They didn’t even attempt to stop Nylander on his rush that allowed Matthews a freebie. Jacob Trouba was the only player back. He wasn’t able to do much on the two-on-one.

It wasn’t the only time when the Rangers looked asleep during the first.

Shesterkin Struggles

Entering play, Igor Shesterkin had allowed nine goals over his last two starts in ugly losses to the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals. While he didn’t get much help in those games, Shesterkin hasn’t been playing well. His struggles continued on Tuesday night.

Over a minute following the Matthews’ goal, the Leafs won an offensive draw back to Conor Timmins for a long wrist shot that eluded Shesterkin to give them a two-goal lead at 5:07. After Max Domi won the faceoff, Calle Jarnkrok helped move the puck to Timmins for a point shot that Shesterkin just missed. It was a bad goal that put the Rangers in an early two-goal hole.

Although he was blameless on a few other Leafs’ goals, Shesterkin wasn’t sharp early on. He’d also lose sight of the puck during a Leafs’ forecheck that allowed Jarnkrok to make it 3-1 later in the opening frame.

After the first period, Shesterkin made several key saves that allowed his team to get back in it. They pulled within one late in the second period on Blake Wheeler’s second goal of the game. That was as close as that got.

For the game, Shesterkin allowed six goals on 29 shots – making it the third straight start, he permitted at least four in a loss. He fell to 10-7-0 with a 3.02 goals-against-average (GAA), and .902 save percentage. That’s hardly the kind of numbers you expect from one of the game’s best goalies.

The Rangers can thank Jonathan Quick for having a great start. Without it, they wouldn’t have a 19-7-1 record to lead the Metropolitan Division. He’s been the better netminder. Something nobody could’ve predicted.

Rangers Give Up Two Goals in 21 Seconds

Late in the first period, it went from bad to worse. Trailing 2-1 thanks to Wheeler getting his first after the Timmins goal, the Rangers took a nap at the wrong time. They gave up two goals in 21 seconds to fall behind by three.

On a Toronto forecheck, John Tavares threw the puck in front where Shesterkin gave up a juicy rebound on. Neither Zac Jones nor Braden Schneider were close enough to take Jarnkrok, who easily put it away to make it 3-1 with 4:40 left. Trocheck was in the wrong position. He needed to be closer to Jarnkrok on the goal.

The next shift was even worse. Matthews took a pass from Marner and cruised into the Rangers’ zone without any resistance. As they watched, he passed back to Marner for an easy tap-in that made it 4-1. There were a lot of passengers on that scoring play. They included Mika Zibanejad, Kreider, Wheeler, Gustafsson, and Trouba.

More Inspired Second Makes it Interesting

The Rangers picked up their intensity in the second period. A more inspired second made it interesting. Getting stronger goaltending from Shesterkin (8 saves), they outscored the Leafs 2-0 to get back in it.

It didn’t happen right away. Leafs’ goalie Martin Jones made several clutch stops to keep his team ahead by three. With Joseph Woll injured and Ilya Samsonov getting the night off, it was the play of Jones that allowed the Leafs to earn the win. He finished with 28 saves on 31 shots to pick up his second victory of the season.

Eventually, the Rangers’ pressure led to Trocheck drawing a hooking minor on Timmins. On their second power play, they made it count thanks to some nice passing from Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin. On the second part of the man-advantage, they combined to feed Zibanejad in the left circle for a rocket that easily beat Jones for a power-play goal, which cut the deficit to 4-2 with 3:30 left in the second period.

With the crowd finally back in it, Shesterkin made a big save that allowed the Rangers to quickly transition up the ice. Trouba got the puck up for Zibanejad. After he gained the Toronto zone, he passed across for Wheeler, who cut in and fired a high wrist shot top shelf to cut it to 4-3 with 1:34 remaining. It was his second of the game. After going 11 straight without a goal, it was his best game as a Ranger.

Wild Sequence Leads to Tough Call in Leafs’ Favor

In the third period, the Leafs thought they had a sure goal. After Shesterkin robbed Marner, a diving Trouba saved a goal when he blocked a Tavares shot headed for the open net. The wild sequence led to a tough call in the Leafs’ favor. On the play, a fallen Gustafsson was sent off for interference on Marner. It was very questionable due to him being down and not even seeing Marner. That penalty proved pivotal.

Following a Matthews’ faceoff win back to Morgan Rielly, his shot was tipped in by Marner for a backbreaking power-play goal that restored a two-goal lead for the Leafs just 1:29 into the third. It really killed the Rangers’ momentum.

Zibanejad Picks the Wrong Time to Defend Lindgren

With the Rangers still trailing the Leafs by two, Jake McCabe stepped up and made a clean hit on Ryan Lindgren that knocked him down by the boards. He got caught in a vulnerable position. McCabe made an outstanding open ice hit. Predictably, it led to Zibanejad picking the wrong time to defend Lindgren.

Rather than realize it was a good old-fashioned check on a player who should’ve known better, Zibanejad went after McCabe and deservedly received an extra two minutes for roughing. Although the Leafs didn’t score on the five-on-four, that hurt the Rangers’ chances of coming back. Zibanejad is also too important to be in the penalty box down a pair.

While it’s nice to see a player defend their teammate, isn’t it getting a little bit tiresome of watching players have to defend themselves after delivering clean hits? Trouba has done that a lot over the last year. At some point, something has to change.

Matthews Puts It Away

With time winding down and the Rangers still in desperation mode, they forgot to stop Matthews. After getting one shot on Shesterkin, he put in his own rebound to put it away. The goal was his 21st of the season, putting him in a tie with the Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser for the league lead.

Matthews finished with two goals and two assists for four points to earn the game’s first star. He dominated throughout. When the Rangers visit the Leafs on Dec. 19, it’ll be interesting to see how they respond to last night’s loss. Obviously, they’ll need to be a lot better defensively while knowing where Matthews and Marner are at all times. That also goes for Nylander, who had two assists in the Leafs’ win.

With the Rangers’ net vacated for a useless 6-on-5 down three goals (Patrick Roy Rule), David Kampf put in a loose puck for the game’s final goal with 87 seconds left.

That’s another rule that has to go. In all likelihood, you’re not coming back from three goals down by lifting the goalie. Unless it’s with over five minutes left and you’re the Minnesota Wild last season, it’s not happening.

Ducks visit Friday

The Ducks will be in town to visit the Rangers on Friday, Dec. 15. Hopefully, they’ll remember that the game begins at 7:08 EST. They’ll want to get back in the win column after dropping their third game over the last four.

It’s a good possibility that Quick gets the start versus the Ducks. But that assumes coach Peter Laviolette will save Shesterkin for the Boston Bruins the following night on Saturday, Dec. 16. The way he’s been going, it might be safer to give Shesterkin the first game and let Quick face the Bruins.

We’ll see what Laviolette decides.