Tavares scored to make it 4-2 at 11:57 of the third period. He capitalized on a turnover in the defensive zone, skated down the right wing, and sent a wrist shot past Shesterkin into the far side from the right circle.
“Anytime you can beat Shesterkin clean, I think you’re pretty happy,” said Tavares, who stretched his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists). “He’s a (heck) of a goalie. You see something and I just felt good on my shot. I didn’t sell the shot very well, so I was able to not let him get super square and changed the angle just slightly at the end and got it loaded and shot it as well as I could have.”
Zibanejad found the net again just 1:07 later at 13:04, scoring his second goal to bring it to 4-3 by lifting a backhand over Woll’s right pad after receiving a saucer pass from Gabe Perreault.
“Obviously this is not what we wanted when we started the season. I don’t think any team wants this,” Zibanejad said of being eliminated from playoff contention. “It’s obviously tough, but it hasn’t come as a surprise in terms of this happening. It was a matter of time looking at the standings doing the quick math, but it still hurts. You play to win and we are in the situation we are in. It’s obviously a tough one.”
Adam Sykora, a forward picked by New York in the second round (No. 63) of the 2022 NHL Draft, finished with minus-2 and had three shots on goal during his NHL debut with 13:33 of ice time.
“I thought he was great, thought he played really well,” Sullivan said. “His speed was evident; he made a couple nice wall plays, didn’t panic with the puck, made good decisions at the lines and didn’t force things that weren’t there. I thought he made an impact; I thought he had a really good game.”
NOTES: This marked the first occasion where the Maple Leafs held a multigoal lead in the first period since their 6-5 overtime loss to Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 15.
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