By Canadian Press

Maple Leafs 6, Rangers 3

Dec 20, 2019 | 9:03 PM

NEW YORK — William Nylander and Mitchell Marner each scored their second goal of the game early in the third period to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 6-3 on Friday night.

Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev also scored, and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves as Toronto won its third straight.

Brady Skjei, Ryan Strome and Pavel Buchnevich scored for New York. Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves as the Rangers’ losing streak reached three games.

Nylander scored a third-period, go-ahead goal when he sent a wrist shot past Georgiev at 2:10 of the final period, giving Toronto a 4-3 lead.

Less than a minute later, Strome had a dreadful turnover that Marner capitalized on. The 22-year-old forward pushed the Leafs lead to two with his eighth ‘goal of the season at 2:57.

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Buchnevich snapped a nine-game goal drought when his wrist shot went through the legs of Andersen at 5:27 of the second period, tying the game at 3-all. Tony DeAngelo picked up his 17th assist of the season on the play and leads Rangers defencemen in points with 24.

Marner gave Toronto a 3-2 lead at 2:50 of the second period when he scored a power-play goal on a two-man advantage. Skjei attempted to break up a pass intended for John Tavares, but redirected the puck past Georgiev.

New York recovered from a sluggish start with two goals in the second half of the first period to knot the score at 2-2.

Skjei inadvertently notched his fifth of the season when a failed deke from the top of the crease trickled past Andersen. Mika Zibanejad recorded his 100th assist as a member of the Rangers on the play and Chris Kreider received credit for the other assist.

Strome evened the score with an easy tap-in 3:47 after the Skjei goal. Artemi Panarin picked up the primary assist as he extended his individual point streak to six games. He has found his way onto the score sheet in 23 of the previous 27 games. Buchnevich also assisted the Strome goal.

The Maple Leafs jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first 12 minutes of the opening period.

Justin Holl completed a give-and-go with Mikheyev at the top of the left circle to set up the scoring opportunity. Then, Holl slid a pass through Jacob Trouba and found Engvall alone in the slot. It was Engvall’s second goal since making his NHL debut on Nov. 19 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Toronto doubled its first-period advantage when Nylander recorded his 12th of the season at 11:52. Trouba was caught watching the puck as Nylander cleaned up a rebound in front uncontested. Kasperi Kapanen assisted on the play.

Mikheyev scored his seventh of the season at 16:23 of the third period when Georgiev couldn’t snag the puck with his glove.

NOTES: The Rangers have scored three or more goals in 16 of the last 22 games. … The Rangers are the only NHL team that has had eight players 21 years old or younger appear in at least one game in 2019-20. … Brett Howden skated in his 100th NHL game Friday. … New York scratched defenceman Libor Hajek and forward Micheal Haley. … Toronto scratched forward Adam Brooks and defenceman Martin Marincin.

UP NEXT:

Maple Leafs: Host Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

Rangers: Host Anaheim Ducks on Sunday afternoon.

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Scott Charles, The Associated Press