Francis Ngannou returns to MMA with huge win at PFL: Battle of the Giants
Francis Ngannou reminded everybody why he is mixed martial arts’ lineal heavyweight championship, returing to the sport with a huge knockout win in his PFL debut.
Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves as the New York Rangers downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Saturday.
Chris Kreider, with two, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin scored for New York (4-0-1). Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith each had a pair of assists.
Auston Matthews replied for Toronto (3-2-0). Anthony Stolarz stopped 25 shots.
Shesterkin made a number of big stops throughout the night, including on John Tavares and a couple off William Nylander.
Matthews, who led the NHL with 69 goals last season, broke the Russian netminder’s shutout bid in the third period when he scored his second of 2024-25 to cut New York’s lead to 2-1 before Kreider and Panarin scored into the empty net.
The game featured two of the league’s heavyweights in Leafs winger Ryan Reaves and Rangers counterpart Matt Rempe, who had a memorable fight at Scotiabank Arena last season, but the bruising forwards didn’t drop the gloves.
TAKEAWAYS
The Leafs snapped an 0-for-9 run on the power play with two goals against the Los Angeles Kings in Wednesday’s 6-2 victory, but fired blanks against the Rangers to drop to 2-for-16 in 2024-25.
The Rangers have won their first three road games to start a season for just the third time in franchise history — and for the first time in 92 years. New York also accomplished the feat in 1927-28 and 1931-32.
KEY MOMENT
Leafs forward Max Domi passed up a terrific opportunity to shoot on a 3-on-1 in the second before Kreider made it 2-0 moments later on a delayed penalty off a slick pass from Zibanejad.
KEY STAT
Lafreniere has at least point in each of his first five contests to start 2024-25, tying Tomas Sandstrom (1986-87) and Mike McEwen (1978-79) for the second-longest season-opening point streak by a Rangers player age 23 or younger. Darren Turcotte (1990-91) tops the list with an 11-game run.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: Conclude a four-game homestand Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Rangers: Wrap up a string of three straight on the road Tuesday when they visit the Montreal Canadiens.
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