Rangers fall to playoff-bound Maple Leafs as wild card hopes take another hit

The Rangers spent the past three seasons working to be recognized among the NHL’s upper echelon, but they have completely lost any semblance of such a reputation in this 2024-25 campaign.

A 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs Thursday night at Madison Square Garden was just the Blueshirts’ latest defeat to a club in playoff position this season, which only set them up to be further surpassed in the Eastern Conference wild-card race with the Islanders, Canadiens and Blue Jackets also in action.

Considering preseason playoff expectations — after going all the way to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three seasons last year — their underwhelming efforts against top-tier teams this season have been disconcerting.

Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin react dejectedly after Matthew Knies’ second period goal during the Rangers’ 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs on March 20, 2025.

The Rangers are now 6-12-3 against currently projected playoff teams in the East this season, as well as 5-6-2 against those from the West. They own an eye-popping 4-15-3 record against top 10 teams in the NHL.

For a team that won the Presidents’ Trophy and finished two wins shy of a Stanley Cup berth last season, the inability to hang with the best-of-the-best this season is only a testament to how tragically far their fall from grace has been.

“Tough. I thought we competed, we had looks,” Adam Fox said. “But, again, you make some costly mistakes against that team and they make you pay.”

Coming off of arguably their worst loss of the season, a listless 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Flames on Tuesday, the Rangers dropped their third straight game.

They fell behind at the 12:30 mark of the first period, when John Tavares’ one-timer off the rush blew past goalie Igor Shesterkin and counted as his first of two goals on the night.

Vincent Trocheck charges the nets as Anthony Stolarz smothers the puck during the Rangers’ loss to the Maple Leafs.

It wasn’t until the tail end of the frame that the Rangers were able to respond.

Will Borgen ripped a shot from the top of the zone that ricocheted off the far post and in. His fifth goal of the season may have evened the score at one-all, but the Rangers have gotten caught sleeping at the end of a period before and they did so again Thursday night after the first 20 minutes.

With 9.6 seconds left in the opening frame, K’Andre Miller lost Bobby McCann, who shook him off in the corner and got a stick on Jake McCabe’s shot to give Toronto a 2-1 lead.

Head coach Peter Laviolette watches the action during the Rangers’ loss to the Maple Leafs.

“The part of the ice we didn’t get to, they did get to,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We were just a little too loose on the coverage. On the rush they had a goal, a little too loose on the coverage. D-zone coverage, just a little bit too loose. If you give them five feet, there’s a chance they’ll make the play.”

While Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to 11 games by burying a rebound for the 2-2 score less than a minute and a half into the second period, the Rangers — as has been the case for some time — weren’t able to generate any momentum off of it.

The Maple Leafs pushed forward with two more goals to take a 4-2 lead into the final 20 minutes of regulation.

After Tavares netted his second of the game, A botched pass from Miller to Fox ended up on William Nylander’s stick. The Maple Leafs forward found Matthew Knies, who attacked a wide-open high slot before whipping it home.

Chris Kreider’s tip-in with the extra skater on at the end of the final frame was too little too late.

“I would’ve liked to have seen more from the inside,” Laviolette said of the Rangers offensive game. “There were shots that came in, they found the net, puck bounced, bounced through us or over us or we didn’t have somebody on the interior. I would’ve liked to have seen more from there.”