There is no doubt that sports fans love to overreact. New York Rangers fans are a perfect example. In the early part of the season, many Blueshirt fans were worried about the play of Mika Zibanejad.
At that time of the season, Zibanejad, 30, struggled to produce, had trouble putting the puck on and in the net, and looked a step behind. He was not necessarily playing poorly, but he did not look like himself, which worried Rangers fans because he has always been the engine that has made the team run.
In his first 16 games, Zibanejad had 10 points on two goals and eight assists. While those numbers are not terrible, they are not numbers that fans are used to seeing from Zibanejad, who is considered an elite center in this league.
Fast forward to now, and all those feelings from the beginning of the season are gone. That might be an understatement.
As of this writing, Zibanejad, who was named the league’s second star of the week for the week ending December 24th, is second on the Blueshirts in scoring with 33 points on 13 goals and 20 assists in 32 games. He is back to being himself for several reasons.
For starters, he is producing at a high level. Just look at what he has done in his last 15 games, according to RangersMuse on Twitter:
- 11 goals
- 11 assists
- 22 points
- 30.6 shot %
- Averaging 18:51 minutes of ice time per game
One game where he was terrific was back on Saturday night, December 23rd, in his team’s 4-3 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden. He picked up three points on one goal and two assists, but it was not the numbers that were impressive.
It was his second assist of the night that led to the overtime goal that stood out. On that play, he showed a ton of patience in getting around two Sabres, pulling Sabres’ goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen out of the net, going around him, and then putting the puck in front of the net to an open Chris Kreider, who potted the overtime winner.
Zibanejad also made an unbelievable play on Friday night, December 22nd, in his team’s 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. With the puck coming around the boards and Zibanejad skating towards it, he turned his stick to deflect the puck to linemate Blake Wheeler, who then shot it quickly into an empty net after Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner was on the other side of the net having not anticipated that Zibanejad would make that kind of play.
Another reason why Zibanejad is playing so well is because his linemates, Kreider and Wheeler, are also playing at a high level. Kreider has 30 points on 17 goals and 13 assists, while Wheeler is starting to play much better as he has five points (one goal and four assists).
That was not always the case this season. Yes, Kreider, 32, has been steady this season, but after Kaapo Kakko went down with an injury, Wheeler, 37, moved up and had trouble fitting on that line. That appears to no longer be the case, as he is producing, creating scoring chances, and looking great playing with Zibanejad and Kreider.
Lastly, Zibanejad is having a lot of success because this is who he is. He is not known to get off to fast starts, so the fact that he “struggled” a bit at the beginning of the season should not have worried Rangers fans.
With the Rangers playing well and Zibanejad back to being himself, this team should be one of the most feared teams in the league for the rest of the season.
