SOUPY STAYS HOT: Maple Leafs goalie sizzles as surging hosts down Rangers

As the Maple Leafs’ win streak grows, so does the stature of Jack Campbell.

Thanks to the NHL save percentage leader’s 27 stops and two early-game goals from defenceman Morgan Rielly, the Leafs beat the Rangers 2-1, making it 10 of their past 11, surviving another test Thursday in protecting a late lead.

“He’s been phenomenal, just goes about his business, just stopping everything,” said Rielly of Campbell. “You just want to leave him alone. Like a starting pitcher, let him go out there and do his thing.”

Campbell’s 10th win of the year dovetailed a 24-stop shutout of Nashville on Tuesday. Thirteen of Monday’s stops were in the third, though Dryden Hunt pumped a Dylan Strome rebound past him, undoing what would’ve been the Leafs’ first home shutout of the Rangers since Johnny Bower in their 1967 Cup year.

But Campbell continues to lead the NHL in save percentage at .944 and in reaching 2,400 minutes as a Leaf this week while holding a .928 mark, is first for now in franchise history, with Jacques Plante at .925 and Bower at .922. Not that Campbell is paying heed to such stats, part of his new and improved mental approach to stop beating himself up for setbacks he can’t control.

“I’m just focused on what I can do better each day,” Campbell insisted. “(Goalie coach) Steve Briere touched on that after the last game, what I can do (to be even stronger) tomorrow.

“I enjoy working with Steve every single day, whether it’s goaltending or just helping me have fun and relax. He’s the best I could ask for. We just laugh and smile.”

Campbell’s clutch stops in the third included an Artemi Panarin breakaway and a glove on Jacob Trouba with the New York net empty. The Leafs are now 8-0-0 leading after two periods, though a timeout coach Sheldon Keefe called after Hunt’s goal helped.