Leading in a young scoring and two preliminary wins for Rangers, that is Mika Zibanejad's face after two rounds in the world's best hockey league. Today, the former zoo player was back where his NHL career took off, in Ottawa. But Zibanejad showed no pity and struck with his third hat-trick of the NHL career when Rangers won 4-1.
The Swede also succeeded with the piece of art to score goals in power play, numerical inferiority and five-to-five games.
- Clearly it is special to have a hat trick here, when my NHL adventure started here. I am grateful that Ottawa gave me the chance to play in this league. This night I will never forget, Mika told Canadian Press after the match.
Clapping-clapping game to 2-0Zibanejad's other goal was the evening's delicacy. After a long pass from the defensive zone, Zibanejad found himself alone against a defender along with teammate Pavel Buchnevich. The puck went like a leash between the two Rangers players and the Swedish 26-year-old was able to easily put 2-1 in behind a totally eliminated Craig Anderson in the Ottawa box.
Zibanejad ended the evening with a delicious assist to the chain mate Artemi Panarin. Without looking at his recipient, the Swede sent a perfect pass on the sheet to Panarin who put it 4-1. That meant hattrick and an assist for the Swede for the evening. Eight points in two games means that Zibanejad takes an early lead in the NHL's scoring, three ahead of the closest chase.
Henrik Lundqvist got playful for the evening and could only watch when his colleague Alexander Georgiev stood for a stable effort with 24 saves.