"New York departed Toronto on Saturday night in first-place overall, while the Maple Leafs will have another nine days until the all-star break to try harder to protect a lower-rung playoff berth.

In a game that showed separation is quickly coming to the Eastern Conference, the Leafs were blanked 3-0, dropping them to 1-2 on a four-game stretch against teams directly above and below them in the standings.

But New York, which has lost just twice in its past 13 games, looked the part of leaders with some seriously stingy defence. Toronto, which lost 3-2 Friday night in Buffalo, now has a couple of days to ready for the Ottawa Senators. Right after the Leafs game ended, Ottawa beat Montreal in a shootout to move seven points ahead.

The Leafs will be hoping the return of injured forward Tyler Bozak to the lineup on Tuesday night against the Sens will give them a needed boost.

"We just couldn't keep up tonight," centre David Steckel said. "The Rangers came out and hit well (27-8 was the count after one period). You have to slow bodies down and they did a good job. We compounded that by making mistakes in our end."

The Leafs saw their five-game home winning streak snapped.

First-liners Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul had their pointless streaks extended to three nights. The two had a combined five points in two earlier wins in Manhattan.

The Leafs did look better in the third period, with one close call in Marty Biron's crease going to video review and Mikhail Grabovski ringing one off the post from close range that at least triggered the goal light."