A loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night had no barring on where the New York Rangers would finish in the standings. The third-place Blueshirts had an eye on the scoreboard, watching both the New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes, knowing they would be facing one of those teams on the road when the postseason begins.
Despite taking a 1-0 lead into the third period on a second-period goal by Kappo Kakko (his 18th of the year), the Rangers gave up three third-period goals. Artemi Panarin scored his 29th goal of the season a little over three minutes after the Maple Leafs had tied the game at one.