Mika Zibanejad has had a poor season so far.
The first goal came on January 19, and the second on February 20.
And so far there have only been six assists, far worse than what the center usually performs.
But in the meeting against Pittsburgh, Zibanejad showed what he can achieve, when he gave the Rangers the lead just over a minute into the game, after he came with speed in a two-on-one position.
"Made it difficult"
But it was a short-lived joy for the Swede and the other Rangers players.
In one minute and one second, Pittsburgh had scored three goals via John Marino, Kasperi Kapanen and Sidney Crosby, and Pittsburgh was able to go to the break with a 3-1 lead.
Zibanejad came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle.
The period ended goalless and in the third Pittsburgh could instead add two more goals to the minutes, and the match ended 5-1.
- They made it difficult for us, states Mika Zibanejad at the press conference after the match.
"Will not be back"
He had a hard time rejoicing that the suite of six goals without a goal is now broken.
- We are losing today, so it is difficult to be able to give it a thought.
But I think we have played good matches lately, and especially this week.
They get three quick goals at the end of the first and we do not really manage to get back in the match after that, says Zibanejad and continues:
- We must try to take with us what we have done in recent matches and try to learn from the two periods we did not get much out of our game, and move on.
Pittsburgh's Marcus Pettersson was noted for the season's first assist, when he was involved in the preparation for Yevgeny Malkin's 4-1 goal.
Rangers get a chance for revenge already during the night towards Wednesday, when the teams meet again.