The Toronto Maple Leafs edged the New York Rangers 3-2 on Friday night thanks to the heroics of Anthony Stolarz.

On a night where the Leafs were playing sloppy at times, it was Stolarz who proved to be the difference maker as he was the sole reason why the team came away from this one with the two points. Much like Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins, the contest could have gotten away from them if not for the brilliance of their netminder.

Toronto rewarded Stolarz’s heroics, with goals from Oliver Ekman-Larsson, William Nylander, and Matthew Knies. Ekman-Larsson’s goal came on the power play when Auston Matthews drew a tripping call right off the hop. Nylander received off a stretch pass from Jake McCabe before it was knocked in accidentally by Urho Vaakanainen. The third was the result of Mitch Marner blocking a clearing attempt, which landed on Matthews’ stick, and then right on the stick of the Knies who made no mistake.

New York was in control for the majority of the game and they got their goals by capitalizing on mistakes by Toronto. Mika Zibanejad tipped in a shot from Will Borgen late in the first period, while Will Cuylle took advantage of a Robertson giveaway near the blue line and took it the other way for a shorthanded tally.

Chris Tanev’s absence was felt in this one as there were lengthy stretches that saw the Leafs hemmed in their own end and you could tell they were exhausted by the end of the night. They also didn’t do themselves any favours by missing the empty net multiple times in the closing minutes.

But in the end, the Leafs did just enough to get the win and close out the month of February with a record of 7-1-0 and back atop the Atlantic Division.