It wasn’t a whirlwind performance, but the difference in the Rangers’ lineup is palpable with Mika Zibanejad at the top.
The Blueshirts got their first-line center back after a month-long absence and they continued their collective growth, holding on for a third straight win with a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes on Wednesday night at the Garden.
It left the Swedish Zibanejad smiling for his adopted holiday of Thanksgiving, and allowed the Rangers (12-9-2) to feel like they have turned a corner after their terrifically inconsistent first quarter of the season.
“Three weeks ago, and last year, these are the games we lost,” Zibanejad said after he missed 13 games and needed just 2:54 before he scored a power-play goal for a 1-0 lead. “We found a way, and that’s good.”
Zibanejad was put right back on the “KZB” line, with Chris Kreider on the left and Pavel Buchnevich on the right. They were assertive, and had a handful of offensive opportunities. And after a raucous beginning, Zibanejad began to settle down.
“The first period was probably the toughest one — nervous, anxious, you’ve been looking forward to coming back and playing, so you tense up a little bit. For a few seconds, I forgot how to breathe,” said Zibanejad, who suffered an upper-body injury on a reverse hit from the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron on Oct. 27. “But I felt better in the second and the third, got in a rhythm.”
Yet the trickle-down effect from Zibanejad is one of the real benefits, as Filip Chytil moved up, bumping Ryan Strome out to the right wing with the left side occupied by the indomitable Artemi Panarin, who had two more assists to make it nine multi-point games in his past 11. The third line, with Kaapo Kakko, wasn’t overly stressed, and the fourth line could play some meaningful minutes with Boo Nieves recently coming up to add some speed down the middle.
“Mika just gives us so much more depth,” coach David Quinn said. “Our whole lineup looks different when you have him in it. He gives us swagger, but he also gives us a lot of depth.
“It’s amazing what one center can do to your whole lineup.”
Of course, it didn’t solve all of the Rangers’ problems. After going out to a 3-0 lead with Brendan Smith and Adam Fox piling on goals, they committed another too-many-men penalty — their third in the past four games, and fourth in the past seven, after committing none in the first 16 games. Quickly there was a power-play goal for Ryan Dzingel, followed 89 seconds later by a jam-shot from Warren Foegele to make it 3-2.
Before the second period could end, goalie Henrik Lundqvist had to reach back for a miraculous paddle-save on Martin Necas to enable his team to take a one-goal lead into the third.
“We started to get a little sloppy,” said Lundqvist, who played in his 1,000th game with the Rangers, including postseason. “The great thing here is the way we battled in the third and closed it down. … It’s a fun feeling when you win different ways.”
This little streak started with the wild 6-5 comeback win in Montreal on Saturday night, and then continued with the 3-2 overtime win against the visiting Wild on Monday. For a team that couldn’t follow up their good performances, the Rangers are starting to find some traction.
“[Saturday] night, it was more the skill that helped us, and tonight, I thought it was more the will,” Lundqvist said. “You’re going to have different things to help you win games along the way, and today was definitely the will and the mindset.”
So it’s not only the skill that Zibanejad brings, but that quiet leadership, which made things rather calm during what could have been a tumultuous third period. The team he returned to was already on its way, but this addition changes the lineup dramatically.
“You’re so happy for him as a friend and a teammate,” Lundqvist said. “Then as a competitor, I know how much better he makes this team.”