Bozak, Maple Leafs fend off Rangers
TORONTO -- Tyler Bozak scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers 8-5 on Saturday night.
The Rangers had come back from 5-1 down to tie the game with three second-period goals.
Bozak put the Maple Leafs back into the lead at 7:17 of the third when he scored from close range on a pass from Jake Gardiner.
Leo Komarov put the Maple Leafs ahead by two goals on a power play at 9:52 and Nazim Kadri scored his second goal of the season on a power play at 18:30.
Zach Hyman scored twice for Toronto (2-0-0). Dominic Moore, Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev added one each for the Maple Leafs.
J.T Miller, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mika Zibanejad, Marc Staal and Mats Zuccarello scored for the Rangers (0-2-0). Zuccarello added three assists.
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist allowed five goals on 17 shots in the first period and was replaced for the second period by Ondrej Pavelec, who made his Rangers' debut and stopped 21 shots.
Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped 30 shots.
The Maple Leafs led 5-1 in the first period before Shattenkirk scored on a power play at 19:37 to trim the lead to 5-2.
Moore, who played 322 career games in two stints with the Rangers, opened the scoring at 2:30 of the first period on a deflection.
New York tied it when Miller jammed home a rebound at 3:42.
The Leafs regained the lead at 5:34 when Hyman took advantage of a Rangers giveaway. Gardiner scored a power-play goal on a solo effort from the Toronto blue line at 11:07. Zaitsev, at 13:59, and Hyman, at 17:19, added to the lead.
The Rangers cut the lead to 5-3 at 7:43 of the second period on a power-play goal by Zibanejad, his third goal of the season.
Staal scored at 12:14 and Zuccarello tied the game at 14:06 of the second.
NOTES: C Eric Fehr and D Andreas Borgman did not dress for the game Saturday after playing in the season opener Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets. C Dominic Moore and D Calle Rosen took their spots in the lineup against the Rangers, whose lineup was unchanged from their season opener Thursday. ... The Rangers are home to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday when G Ondrej Pavelec is scheduled to make his first start of the season. He entered the game Saturday for the second period. ... The Maple Leafs play their next game Monday at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.