Rangers rally with five unanswered goals to beat Maple Leafs

Back home at Madison Square Garden for the first time in two weeks, and fully healthy for the first time in a month, the Rangers understood they were in for a major challenge against the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday.

But after they rattled off five straight goals over the final two periods to fashion an impressive 6-3 win over the Maple Leafs, it is starting to look as if maybe it isn’t so much the Rangers who need to keep measuring themselves against other teams, but rather, other teams might want to be measuring themselves against the Rangers.

Enforcer Ryan Reaves scored his first two goals as a Ranger, Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox added two goals of his own, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 35 saves as the Rangers rallied from 3-1 down after the first period to win their third straight game.

The Rangers, who regained sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division, are 26-10-4 (56 points). They play second-place Carolina (54 points) on Friday.

"It shows our maturity; it shows that we can hang with the big boys — that we are one of the big boys,’’ Reaves said when asked about the message this victory sent. "We’ve got to keep beating the playoff teams, and that’s something we’ve talked about. But yeah, I think we’re proving to the league, we’re proving to ourselves, that we’re a contender.

"I think maybe some of the league doesn’t believe it, but . . . I mean, the standings don’t lie.’’

Things started off poorly in this one for the Rangers, with the Maple Leafs taking a 2-0 lead before the game was four minutes old. Ilya Mikheyev’s sixth goal in eight games this season for the Leafs put them up 1-0 at 2:44 and then Mitch Marner’s first power-play goal in nearly two years made it 2-0 at 3:30.

"I was a little worried to be honest with you,’’ said Rangers coach Gerard Gallant, whose team was outshot 38-27. "We came out a little sleepy, obviously, and it just seems that when you get back from those road trips, for whatever reason, the first period’s tough. It was a tough one.’’

But Reaves’ first goal as a Ranger, after a dominating shift by the fourth line, got the Rangers on the board at 12:52 of the period. Toronto made it 3-1 when Michael Bunting poked in a rebound at 17:50, but the Rangers tied it with goals by Reaves and Fox in the second.

Reaves got to the rebound of a shot off the end boards and whipped a sharp-angle shot off the shoulder of Toronto goalie Jack Campbell and in to make it 3-2 at 2:58 of the period. Later, Fox drove the middle and jammed in a pass from Ryan Strome to tie it at 17:49.

Strome put the Rangers in front when he scored his ninth goal of the season at 10:50 of the third period, and Chris Kreider provided insurance with his 25th goal at 15:33.

Toronto looked like it had pulled within 5-4 with 3:52 left in regulation on an apparent goal by Auston Matthews, but the goal was overturned on video review, which determined Matthews had kicked the puck into the net.

Fox made it 6-3 with an empty-net goal with 2:24 left.

"We weren’t happy with what was going on tonight and after the first period, we just talked about it and said, ‘You know, we’re only down two goals. We didn’t play well at all, but we’re down two goals, and let’s get her going,’ ’’ Gallant said.

"We found a way to get those goals and then Reavo got the first one, the guys were ignited on the bench and excited, and then he gets the second goal for us. And it just seemed like the momentum was picking up and we just played a lot better."

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.