Frederik Andersen had just made an amazing save on Boo Nieves on a two-on-one but the puck went to Strome who stuffed it in at 1:48.
With another stellar performance in goal until finally beaten in the third period, New York’s Alexandar Georgiev looked to have continued his mastery over the Maple Leafs.
Trailing 1-0, the Leafs finally beat Georgiev at 8:33 of the third after a rush by Morgan Rielly opened up the Rangers defence and John Tavares fed Hyman for his 19th of the season into a wide-open net. It was Toronto’s 33rd shot on the night.
Pavel Buchnevich had ended a scoreless deadlock 19 seconds into the third, beating Hyman to the puck in a mass of bodies in front of Andersen after a Brady Skjei shot from a bad angle produced a fat rebound. It was Buchnevich’s 18th goal of the season.
Georgiev, a second-year Bulgarian-born goalie, had a career-high 55 saves — second-most in a regular-season game in Rangers history — in a 4-1 win over the visiting Leafs on Feb. 10 (his 23rd birthday). That included 25 power-play shots.
Mike Richter made 59 stops in an overtime tie against the Vancouver Canucks in 1991. But the 55 saves were a Madison Square Garden record by a Ranger goaltender (in just his 12th start there).
Georgiev faced 43 shots Saturday. The Rangers had 25 shots.
Toronto was coming off a 4-2 win Wednesday in Buffalo but had lost five of its last eight (3-4-1). The Leafs had given up the opening goal in their last six games (2-4-0).
Already eliminated from playoff contention, the Rangers had lost five straight and 11 of their last 12 (1-6-5). They had also suffered three straight road defeats.
Georgiev came into Saturday’s game with a 3.11 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage in 27 appearances this season.
He had stopped 86 of 91 shots in his two previous career appearances against the Maple Leafs.