Typical Rangers hockey: Not a lot of shots on goal, but score a bunch, have Igor Shesterkin make a ton of saves, and score on the powerplay. The real story of the Winter Classic was Mika Zibanejad playing arguably his greatest individual game since the 5 goal game against Washington almost 6 years ago. The top players have been MIA all year, but showed up for the outdoor game to preserve the Rangers’ perfect record without a roof.
Mika Zibanejad had himself a night with a hat trick and five points, but without the heroics of Igor Shesterkin the Rangers might have seen this game slip away quickly. For the penalty killing in particular, Igor was brilliant all night long. The Panthers were awarded 6 power plays and aside from one weird bounce, Igor stopped them all. We have been starving for it as fans, but the Rangers finally gave Igor some run support en-route to a fantastic goaltending performance.
After being named to the Swedish Men’s teams’ roster, Mika had the best night of his career since the 5 goal game against Washington. He’s been solid this season, but like the other top skaters, has struggled to score. To add nuance, Zibanejad is routinely matched up against top lines, is one of the first ones over the boards on the penalty kill, and is very quietly on a 70 point pace.
He may not be a point per game player anymore, but after tying the franchise record in power play goals, scoring at even strength off a great passing play from Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, and getting the first ever hat trick at a Winter Classic, Zibanejad turned back the clock. Zibanejad has been one of the only “fun” players to watch this season.
And how about Alexis Lafreniere? His three assist night gives him five points in two outdoor games, and perhaps this is one he can build on for the rest of the season. Last night was a perfect encapsulation of what his skillset can be when he’s locked in, but again he needs to build on it and start stringing these efforts together. Points may dry up here and there as hockey is streaky, but it’s the effort and attention to detail that was top notch last night. As with other Rangers though, the question with Lafreniere after this kind of game is how will he follow it up?
Maybe James Dolan should just remove the roof from MSG. That should help.
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