New York Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes
New York. Mr. Februaryware cannot be stopped.
Mika Zibanejad scored for the fourth straight game as the New York Rangers claimed their fifth straight win last night – away to Carolina itself.
“I got a little bit more space at the end and it shows, the self-confidence is boosted when I manage to put a few balls in,” he told Sportbladet after the 6-2 win.
First and last, it must be said that it wasn’t Mika Zibanejad who stole the headlines in the PNC arena.
His friend Artemy Panarin was the first to complete his hat-trick, and then scored the fourth goal.
– Great, a lot of fun for him, we are all happy for him, – says Mika on the phone from Raleigh.
– But we’re also happy for our own good. We need to make him go. If he feels good, we will benefit greatly.
Rangers are benefiting from Zibanejad who is also feeling good and is doing so now, because February’s good streak continues. He’s scored a goal against the Hurricanes, too — making it his 27th in total and five in his last four games — and it’s pretty much business as usual. In the power play in the first period, Chris Kreider got the puck in the penalty area, played diagonally in the back-and-forth hit.
– Yes, it’s the third match in a row that has suited me in this way, continues the 29-year-old from Mälarhöjden, who now shares second place in Power play goals stats with Connor McDavid.
– I got a little bit more space at the end and it shows, my self-confidence strengthened when I managed to put a few balls in. The fact that powerplay is generally working well boosts the confidence of the entire team. That’s been questioned for a while, when we didn’t score, but things are rolling in now and that of course is nice and important.
“It would be fun to watch the Super Bowl.”
However, Mika is flattered by the fact that the Rangers have already beaten the Hurricanes – despite the fact that Division VII had a strong advantage for extended periods of time.
– Yes, they have great speed and they press hard and shoot all the time. But we kept our cool tonight and were confident that opportunities would come and they did and then we were efficient, he points out.
Today, the Rangers cross the continent on a six-hour trip to western Canada where they take on the Canucks, Oilers and Flames next week.
– We’d better get there in time for the Super Bowl. Mika Zibanejad says it will be really interesting to watch that match.
William Nylander still leads the Swedish shooting league in the National Hockey League. He scored his 29th goal of the night, with an assist from Calle Järnkrok, and also played it up with a kick from Morgan Reilly.
But that was all he had to look forward to, against all odds Toronto lost 4-3 to hopeless midgets at home at Scotiabank Arena.
Ask the players what happened. I can’t do the work for them. Matters coach Sheldon Cave.
After some heavy losses, the Minnesota Wild rebounded last night and beat the New Jersey Devils at home at the Excel Energy Center.
It was 2-2 at full time, after Joel Eriksson Ek scored his 20th goal and Jonas Broden played Ryan Hartmann.
Then the home team won on penalties.
– the so-called triumph of personality, says Hartmann in particular.
Filip Gustafsson stopped 27 wild box shots and held firm during the shootout.
Jesper Bokqvist got help from the demons.
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Even defending champion Colorado bounced back from a tough stint and beat Florida – and the tension eventually ran high – 5-3.
In Winnipeg, the Jets beat Chicago, 4-1.