Stepan scores late to lift Rangers over Maple Leafs 4-2

Stepan scored with 1:31 remaining and Derick Brassard added an empty-netter for his second goal of the game to lift the Rangers over the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2.

Stepan’s one-time goal, which came as the result of defensive-zone giveaway by Morgan Rielly, came 59 seconds after Colin Greening tied the score at two with his first goal as a member of the Leafs.

NY won despite a lopsided effort in Toronto’s favor and the loss of captain Ryan McDonagh to an injury just a day after he returned. Komarov was given a match penalty and could face supplemental discipline.

“We all saw the hit”, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “I’m going to let the league decide on it”.

There was no further word on McDonagh’s status.

Rangers defenseman J.T. Miller chipped in with three assists.

Komarov, who leads the Leafs with 18 goals and 35 points this season, has never been suspended by the National Hockey League previously.

Hunwick was forced to depart practice on Wednesday morning with an undisclosed ailment and is questionable to play against his former NY team.

Facing a Rangers team that played one night earlier at home against Chicago, Toronto indeed dictated play, outshooting their Metropolitan division foe 37-20 while landing the game’s first goal from P.A. Parenteau. This isn’t a one-off, though – Parenteau’s been terrifically productive over the last eight games, notching seven points and 20 PIM as one of the Leafs’ most relied-upon forwards. Zuccarello corralled the rebound and took a backhand shot that Bernier appeared to stop with his outstretched pad. He’s got everything to be able to play in this league on a regular basis, and he has done a good job for us. “We turned the puck over twice and gave them two free goals”.

Bernier at the other end was given an opportunity to start and reclaim Toronto’s crease with apparent No. 1 James Reimer struggling.

Mark Arcobello has three goals in his last two games, but netminder James Reimer has a 4.19 goals-against average over his past seven starts.

“No matter what stage you are at in your career, if you play good today, you play tomorrow”, Babcock said about Bernier, whose last win came January 6 in a 39-save effort against Anaheim. “That’s when you knew you had the good feeling that it was going to work for you”, he said.

“That was the save that changed the game a little bit for me”, Raanta said. Relegated to backup duty for most of the year and briefly sent to the AHL for a conditioning stint, he holds the second-worst save percentage in the league (.899) and is searching for his first win in more than a month.

Maple Leafs defenseman Viktor Loov, playing in his first National Hockey League game, had the second assist.

Toronto, which has the fewest home wins this season, will play 18 of its final 27 games at the Air Canada Centre. The Rangers won that game in a shootout, and the next time they faced the Flyers, this past Sunday, there were two fights in the first minute and a resounding galvanization followed.