Rangers ride Mika Zibanejad’s hat trick to Winter Classic win over Panthers
Mika Zibanejad recorded the first-ever hat trick in a Winter Classic and logged two assists while leading the New York Rangers to a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night in Miami.
A sellout crowd of 36,153 attended the game at loanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins.
Artemi Panarin chipped in with two goals and an assist while Alexis Lafreniere dished a career-high three assists for New York, which snapped a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Vincent Trocheck added two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves for the win.
Zibanejad opened the scoring on a power play at 15:09 of the first period. It was his 116th power-play goal for the Rangers, tying him with Camille Henry and Chris Kreider for the most in franchise history.
The Rangers are now 6-0-0 all-time in outdoor games. They also lead the NHL in road wins this season (15-8-2).
Sam Reinhart scored on a power play and Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves for the Panthers, who lost their second straight game. They are 2-3-1 over their past six games.
Panthers defenseman Seth Jones -- who is set to represent the U.S. in the Olympics next month -- took a puck to his neck/shoulder area in the first period. He didn't return.
New York went up 1-0 when Lafreniere threaded a pass to a charging Zibanejad, who redirected the puck in from point-blank range.
The Rangers doubled the lead 64 seconds later as Panarin's shot from the point got through several bodies that screened Bobrovsky's vision.
New York made it 3-0 on Zibanejad's second goal, this one just 58 seconds into the second period. The play started when Trocheck lost his edge but managed to pass the puck from the seat of his pants. Lafreniere then dished to Zibanejad, who hit the open left side of the net.
Trocheck nearly made it 4-0 with 9:59 left in the second, but his goal was disallowed because he batted the puck in with a high stick.
Florida got on the board 2:20 into the third. The play started when New York tried to clear the puck. Aaron Ekblad made a great move to keep the puck in, and that led to Sam Bennett feeding Reinhart for his power-play goal.
Panarin tacked on a power-play tally at 12:25, and Zibanejad scored a short-handed empty-netter with 1:28 remaining to complete the hat trick.