New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad, right, celebrates after his goal as Carolina Hurricanes ... [+]
At one point during the fairly crowded postgame press conference Sunday, Chris Kreider joked to Mika Zibanejad about the two goals he scored and the third he did not get because he passed up an open look.
It was a play with all kinds of time and space and without a Carolina Hurricanes defender in sight. Instead Zibanejad opted to pass up the seemingly clear goal to give Artemi Panarin a chance to score.
“If I come in a position like that, I’ll do whatever decision I think is best at the moment, and this wasn’t my greatest decision if you look at it,” Zibanejad said. “It’s gonna happen.”
What was going to happen was more of a discussion on how Zibanejad was seemingly amongst the best players on the ice in the series opener against the Hurricanes and continued his role as the Rangers’ most consistent performer in a postseason series where they have banked in five games.
To get his second career multi-goal game in the postseason (the other was Game 6 in the first round against Pittsburgh when he scored twice in 76 seconds after the Rangers trailed 2-0), Zibanejad made some plays that seemingly looked like he would make during his 39-goal season last season, getting both goals on one-timers, including the second tally when he was down on one knee after releasing the shot.
“Mika obviously had a huge night,” coach Peter Laviolette said in stating the obvious after a game when the Rangers never trailed and hung on for dear life in the final minute.
Zibanejad’s performance also included a key defensive play on Sebastian Aho in the waning seconds continued his role of being so dependable in the early goings of what the Rangers hope will be a really extensive postseason run.
He now has four straight multi-point games and a point in each game, upping his total to 10, putting him 14 away from what he did in the 20-game run to the Eastern Conference finals two years ago.
“That's very important, for sure, when players like Mika stand up and show his skills, his level," Panarin said after eventually scoring his third goal on a play that gave the Rangers some breathing room until the final frantic two minutes. "It's unbelievable."
Zibanejad’s effort occurred on 5-on-5 when he capitalized on being surprisingly untouched in the slot and then again on the power play when he finished off Chris Kreider’s no-look pass.
“I thought we were executing, trying to attack," Zibanejad said. "It's a really good PK that we're playing against, so we have to execute and I thought we did that tonight. It's something that we're going to have to keep doing if we're going to have some success against these guys."
For all the offense, Zibanejad is a responsible defensive player and it was noticeable in the final minutes.
“Everyone knows Mika is such a responsible player up and down the ice,” defenseman Braden Schneider. said. “In the playoffs, for the start of this, he’s taken it to another level. He’s all over our D-zone, he’s talking, he’s breaking pucks out. And then he’s getting up and making things happen in the offensive zone as well. He’s a leader for us, and he sets the tone for us.”
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns (8) stands by as center Jake Guentzel (59) and New York ... [+]
There are still ways to go, but Zibanejad’s continued emergence as the Rangers’ best player in the postseason so far began a series with little open ice on the right foot for the NHL’s top regular-season team.
“A week out from the last time we played, I thought the start was good,” Laviolette said. “I thought we just followed that through right through the game, I thought it was pretty consistent the way that we played.”
And it was a perfect summation of Zibanejad’s postseason so far.
