Rangers score season high in goals in 7-1 win over Toronto
Rangers' Dominic Moore celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs with teammate Brian Boyle during the first period. (Jan. 4, 2014) Credit: AP
TORONTO -- Sometimes one day does make a difference. After a closed-door meeting following Friday's loss to the Penguins, the Rangers delivered their most dominant performance of the season Saturday night in a 7-1 win over the Maple Leafs.
Dominic Moore scored twice and Chris Kreider, Carl Hagelin, Benoit Pouliot, Brad Richards and Brian Boyle netted one each as the Rangers (21-20-2) had a season high in goals. They won for the fifth time in seven games and finished a five-game road trip at 3-2.
"I thought we did a much better job in our own zone, being more aware, more assertive, didn't give the puck away," Moore said. "It's got to be the trademark, the staple of our game."
Cam Talbot, starting in place of Henrik Lundqvist, made 24 saves and raised his record to 9-3. But this was a team effort by the Rangers, who outshot the Leafs 50-26.
"Great response after what happened Friday," said Kreider, who scored his team-leading 11th goal. "The older guys paved the way and set the tempo."
The rout started early. In the first period, the speedier Rangers made tape-to-tape passes, won battles and outshot the Maple Leafs 18-7.
Hagelin provided a 1-0 lead at 6:57 when he tipped Dan Girardi's shot that went through a screen by Richards. Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier was at fault on Moore's first goal, a bad-angle wrister from the left side between his pads at 15:51.
Shortly after Boyle and Dion Phaneuf grappled along the boards, Ryan Callahan, battling on a cycle in the offensive zone, drew a crosscheck from Paul Ranger at 4:04 of the second period. That power play didn't get untracked, but the Rangers didn't sag.
Marc Staal threaded a pass through the low slot that Pouliot, at the right post, buried for a 3-0 lead at 10:39. That seemed to take the air out of the Leafs and the crowd of more than 19,000.
"Seemed like the third goal was the hockey game," Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. "I expected a lot more . . . we didn't check, they had the freedom to roam around the ice."
Kreider, who had been yapping and scrapping with Phaneuf -- a series of confrontations that carried over from the Dec. 23 game between the teams at Madison Square Garden -- scored at 14:39 after skating past defenseman Cody Franson, decoying Bernier and tucking in a backhand.
Tempers finally boiled over with 6:47 remaining after Phaneuf crosschecked and slashed Kreider in front of the Toronto crease. The two dropped the gloves and Kreider wrestled the Leafs' captain to the ice.
"I don't think it would've happened if he hadn't slashed [Derek Stepan]; that kind of rubbed me the wrong way," Kreider said. "I probably took it a little too far. He plays extremely hard, but it happens."
Moore scored 1:56 after Kreider's goal and Bernier was chased for the first time as a Leaf, replaced by James Reimer. It was the eighth two-goal performance of Moore's career, third with the Rangers.
Joffrey Lupul finally got the Leafs on the board with 2:18 left in the second, after Talbot had made a right pad save, but Richards scored his 10th, beating Reimer five-hole from the right circle midway through the third.
Notes & quotes: Boyle's goal, a tip-in on a power play, was his first in 28 games . . . Defenseman Michael Del Zotto dressed for the first time in three games, perhaps as a showcase for a trade, replacing rookie Conor Allen, who had played two straight since his call-up from Hartford.
