TORONTO -- What the New York Rangers lacked in shots on the net, they made up for with the ones that went in.

The one that made the difference was from the left faceoff circle at 18:29 of the third period that gave center Derek Stepan his 13th goal of the season and sent the Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

The goal offset a goal at 17:30 of the third by the Toronto center Colin Greening that tied the game 2-2.

The Rangers were helped by the goaltending of Antti Raanta, who made 35 saves, some of them superb.

Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier stopped 16 shots.

"They didn't have a lot of rubber on the net," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "He wasn't called upon to make a lot of saves. This is a game we should have won."

Center Derick Brassard added two goals for New York, one into an empty net.

Center Mats Zuccarello also scored for the Rangers (33-19-6), who bounced back from a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, and added two assists.

Rangers defenseman J.T. Miller chipped in with three assists.

Right winger Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau also scored for the Leafs (20-27-9).

The Maple Leafs lost center Leo Komarov late in the first period when he was given a match penalty for an elbow to the head of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who was kept out of the remainder of the game for precautionary reasons.

"I'm not going to comment on that," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "I'm just going to leave it to the league. ... Obviously it was on everybody's mind, considering what happened. We all saw the hit. But I hope he'll be all right."

Toronto failed to score on five attempts on the power play.

"I was a little bit lucky on a couple of saves but other than that I felt all the time that I was inside the game and didn't need to do much there," Raanta said. "The first period we didn't play that good so it was a good thing I was there and got those saves. It was nice to do that for the team and help the team. Then late in the third period the team helped me."

The Maple Leafs tied the game after a scramble around the net on Greening's first goal of the season.

"It helped us a little bit," Stepan said. "For a little bit of the third we were sitting back and once they scored we were more assertive, we were back on our toes and we were able to get a good look."

Stepan made the good look count on a pass from Zuccarello.

Brassard scored into an empty net at 19:40 for his 22nd goal of the season.

The Maple Leafs grabbed the lead at 3:58 of the first period on Parenteau's 15th goal of the season as he stuffed in a rebound from the side of the net. Defensemen Martin Marincin and Viktor Loov -- playing his first NHL game -- earned assists.

Raanta, in his 14th game of the season, made several good saves to keep the Leafs from increasing the lead.

Toronto outshot New York 13-6 in the first after having a 9-2 edge. The Leafs also hit a crossbar.

"There's no doubt that if it wouldn't have been for Antti (Raanta), it wouldn't have been a game," Vigneault said. "We didn't play well at all in the first period. He kept us in and we were able to battle back and somehow find a way to win this game on a night when we didn't play real well."

The Rangers had a two-man power-play advantage after Maple Leafs center Nick Spaling took a four-minute high-sticking penalty at 3:32 of the second.

Brassard tied the game 24 seconds later on a blast from the top of the right faceoff circle.

The Rangers took a 2-1 lead at 9:24 of the second on the 20th goal of the season by Zuccarello. His shot after a rebound hit Bernier's leg pad and a video review determined that the puck had completely crossed the line before hitting the pad and bouncing out into the crease.

"We had a lot of guys that came out tonight and played well," Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said "We wanted to bounce back after the (7-2 loss) against Chicago and I think we did that."

NOTES: Toronto G Jonathan Bernier started Thursday and played in his 200th NHL game. ... Toronto recalled D Viktor Loov from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis. He replaced D Matt Hunwick (undisclosed injury), who was a late scratch. ... Rangers D Marc Staal returned Thursday after missing the 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday to be with his wife, Lindsay, when she gave birth to a daughter. The loss was the first for the Rangers at home since Dec. 20. ...The Maple Leafs were playing their first home game since Feb. 4 after a 1-4-0 trip, allowing a total of 24 goals. ... The Rangers' next game will be Sunday when they host the Detroit Red Wings. ...The Maple Leafs are home to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.