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Toronto Maple Leafs vs New York Rangers: Battle of the NHL's Best Teams?

It's the Toronto Maple Leafs vs the New York Rangers

By James Tanner |
Mar 2, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov (35) makes a save on a shot from New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin (10) in the overtime shootout at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Mar 2, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov (35) makes a save on a shot from New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin (10) in the overtime shootout at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images / Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the New York Rangers at home tonight at the ACC.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 3-1 and will be looking for their fourth consecutive win. The Rangers, like the Leafs, are also 3-1, although their one loss came in overtime so they have an extra point.

It's kind of funny that you get an extra point for losing if you get to overtime, but you don't get one for firing 47 shots, destroying a team and hitting four posts, only to lose 1-0. Not that you should, it just illustrates how arbitrary and silly the NHL's point system is.

Tonight's game will feature two of the NHL's best teams, and perhaps even it's two best teams since Colorado and Edmonton both stink so far, and Dallas' blue-line has some sketchy players on it.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs New York Rangers: Battle of the NHL's Best Teams?

The Rangers have the NHL's best goalie in Igor Shesterkin, and he'll be starting tonight against the Leafs, who will counter with Anthony Stolarz.

Joseph Woll recently appeared at practice, but there is no word on when he'll play again. With Stolarz doing so well in his first three games, there is no need for Woll to rush back.

The Leafs and Rangers are two teams off to good starts, both of whom are expected to be among the top teams in the NHL. Interestingly, they rank 17th and 18th by puck-possession metrics so far this season, which is an indication that they both might not be as good as it seems.

That said, one game like the Leafs played on Wednesday (early lead, blow out) can skew the stats in such a short sample, but its still worth monitoring. Both teams are in the top five by percentage of total shots, but is shooting a ton from anywhere a winning strategy? The recent success of the Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs suggests it isn't. (stats from naturalstattrick.com).

By expected-goals percentage, the Leafs rank 9th, the Rangers 5th. Again, its very early, but looking at these kinds of things can help us manage expectations - the Leafs are 3-1, could be 4-0, but they have several GLARING roster holes. Coupled with the so-so statistics, I think we can safely put a bit of a damper on their hot start and realistically say that they are probably closer to what we thought they were in the summer than what people are currently saying.

The Leafs are going back to Conor Timmins after only giving Timothy Liljegren one single game to get back into things. This is dumb. They are also scratching Paccioretty again. This is smart.

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Should be a good game.

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