The New York Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Monday night as there were multiple key contributors.
Going into this matchup, the Rangers were coming off of a hectic 6-5 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
The Rangers started off the contest on fire. Artemi Panarin displayed his flashy stick handling moves and found Alexis Lafrenière in open space for a goal.
Panarin has five points while Lafrenière has four points through the first three games. It’s clear that this is a duo to watch out for going forward.
A big question leading into the night was what exactly is going on with Mika Zibanejad?
Through the first two games, Zibanejad just didn’t look like himself and seemed to be struggling in terms of his confidence.
However, Zibanejad came back in a big way on Monday night. He recorded a beautiful assist to Chris Kreider on the power play while being able to tally an empty net goal late in the third period.
Overall, he just played like the Zibanejad we all know and love. Rangers coach Peter Laviolette was never worried about Zibanejad’s slow start though.
“This was only our third game of the year,” Laviolette said. “It’s not like we were in game 12. I thought in Pittsburgh that line (Zibanejad’s line) played a heck of a game and tonight they were productive. Beautiful play on the power play. You got Mika walking in and seeing Kreider on the back door.”
