Rangers, Trailing Most of the Game, Forge a Tie, Then Quickly Lose It

Derek Stepan tied the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-3, at the nine-minute mark of the third period, but just 38 seconds later, Phil Kessel put home his own rebound as the Maple Leafs upended the Rangers, 4-3, on Monday night.

That 38-second span was the difference.

“It was a breakdown of coverage,” Tortorella said. “We can’t have that after we’ve battled back.”

Rick Nash scored a pair of goals for the Rangers (19-16-4), who were forced to play catch-up all night and, as a result, failed to pick up a point for the first time in five games.

“It’s definitely disappointing; we had a d-zone breakdown after a huge goal by Step,” Nash said. “It’s just a bad play. That next shift is so important after a goal and we didn’t get the job done.”

Stepan capitalized off a Leo Komarov turnover and beat goalie James Reimer glove-side for his 14th of the season. Then Kessel, who picked up a pass from Tyler Bozak, fanned on his initial shot, but got enough of his rebound for his second goal of the night and 12th of the season. It was Kessel’s first multigoal game at home this season.

“I still think I have to be a little bit better,” Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. “The rebound just died and ended up perfectly for him.”

With Lundqvist pulled for an extra attacker, Nash had a great chance with less than five seconds remaining, but fired a shot wide of the net.

Tortorella admitted he was line-matching, trying to get Nash away from the defensive pairing of Carl Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf. The move paid off as Nash scored his team-leading 16th and 17th goals with similar power moves to the outside and around Leafs defensemen.

Nash pulled the Rangers to 2-1 with 5 minutes 5 seconds remaining in the second, cutting around Cody Franson and jamming it in the short side against Reimer.

Then with the Rangers trailing, 3-1, early in the third, Nash got around Mark Fraser and beat Reimer on the stick side.

The Rangers came in with a game in hand on the eighth-place Islanders, but failed to gain ground. Both are tied with 42 points, but the Rangers hold the tiebreaker edge.

“We’re a desperate hockey team, we’re desperate for points,” Nash said. “We knew we were playing a good game. The third period was good; we were all over them. It just came down to a breakdown after that big goal.”

The Rangers had seen a resurgence in their power play of late, going 5 for 11 over the last three games after a 2-for-23 effort in the previous 11. However, they were 0 for 2 with four shots Monday.

“The first one, I don’t think we shot it enough, so I’ll leave it at that,” Tortorella said of his team’s play with the man advantage.

Lundqvist, who entered the game having allowed two or fewer goals in his last 10 starts, going 6-2-2, made 24 saves. He was 4-2-2 with two shutouts and a 1.99 goals against average in his last six games against the Leafs.

Kessel’s first goal with less than a minute remaining in the second snapped a nine-game goal drought. With Ryan Callahan in the box for holding, Kessel beat a screened Lundqvist, giving the Leafs a 3-1 lead after two periods.

Toronto went 1 for 2 with the man advantage.

James van Riemsdyk and the newly acquired defenseman Ryan O’Byrne had the other goals for the Leafs, who improved to 7-1-3 in their last 11 games.

Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi both had excellent chances to open the scoring in the first period, but each hit the post.

Moments after Girardi rang his shot off the iron, van Riemsdyk opened the scoring with his 16th of the season, jamming home his own rebound.

Rangers defenseman Steve Eminger and the Leafs’ Joe Colborne provided another example of why the league may look into hybrid icing. The two were racing for the puck early in the first on a delayed icing call; Eminger got there first but was tripped into the boards by Colborne.

Eminger was slow to get up but stayed in the game, while Colborne was assessed a minor penalty for tripping.

 SLAP SHOTS

Brian Boyle, who had 3 points in three games entering the game, did not get a point. … Brad Richards, who had a goal and four assists in his previous four games, finished minus-1.