There were under 30 seconds to go in the third period, the Rangers were protecting a one-goal lead in this first game of the second round, and there was Mika Zibanejad, on his knees in the neutral zone,

The Rangers are unbeaten through five postseason games and Mika Zibanejad's consistency is amongst the key reasons for their early success so far.

Vincent Trocheck  Trocheck was there to clean up the garbage when Zibanejad finally missed a chance late in the first and notched a secondary assist to go with it. The Rangers’ win looked inevitable after scoring twice on the power play in a combined 24 seconds at five-on-four late in the first period.

And it’s exactly what the Rangers need to get through the gauntlet of the Stanley Cup playoffs. “He’s turned it up a notch in the playoffs here, for sure,” teammate Vincent Trocheck said. Zibanejad scored twice in the first period on pinpoint feeds,

Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, Artemi Panarin also scored and the New York Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in Game 1 of their second-round series.

Boasting strong players up the middle is imperative for teams trying to make deep runs, and New York has that going for it.

Mika Zibanejad scored two first-period goals, and Igor Shesterkin‘s 22 saves helped lead the Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals best-of-seven series on Sunday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 18,

Mika Zibanejad and his New York Rangers still haven’t lost a game in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs after beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference second-round series at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon.