Mika Zibanejad stars in impressive 4-1 win over the Senators

OTTAWA, ON – OCTOBER 5: Jean-Gabriel Pageau #44 of the Ottawa Senators battles against Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers in the first period at Canadian Tire Centre on October 5, 2019 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)

Notes on the game

Zibanejad now has four goals and four assists in two games. Even better, the Zibanejad-Panarin-Buchnevich line has 15 points in two games. One member of the line has been on the ice for nine out of the team’s first ten goals.

Buchnevich had two assists, breaking out big time. Of course, on the spectacular give and go with Zibanejad in the second period, he passed when he could have shot. If it works, it’s great. He was originally credited with an assist on the first Zibanejad goal, but it was changed to Chris Kreider.

David Quinn rejiggered his defense, putting Libor Hajek with Jacob Trouba, and Adam Fox with Brady Skjei. It worked as the two rookies had much better games playing with veteran partners. Fox had a really good game and made the pass that resulted in the second Ranger goal, a two line head man pass to Panarin.

Jacob Trouba had another excellent game. He picked up a power play assist, but more importantly, he led the team in ice time, playing over 22 minutes. He’s also a big reason that the Ranger penalty kill has been so good this season.

The penalty kill was flawless, killing all five Senator power plays. They are now nine for ten in the two games. Jesper Fast and Brett Howden was the top tandem on the penalty kill, followed by ZIbanejad and Strome and Andersson. They held the Senators to seven shots on their five two-man advantages.

Marc Staal was on the ice for the only Ottawa goal, but he was a shot blocking monster. His seven blocked shots was a career high. He is still seeing a lot of ice time, but is clearly benefiting from not having to play top minutes.

The Rangers were really good on faceoffs, winning 66.7%. Zibanejad was 18-4 (82%), Ryan Strome was 10-4 (71%) and Brett Howden was 9-6 (60%). That is a sure recipe for winning hockey games.

Georgiev stopped 31 of 32 shots including the back to back saves in the second period during a penalty kill. His kick save on Anisimov’s point blank shot was spectacular.

Kaapo Kakko had another active game, but was scoreless. You almost wish that Quinn would give him some power play time with Zibanejad and Panarin just to see what would happen. Inevitably, that will happen.

The Senators had 37 hits to the Rangers’ 22, but it didn’t feel like the Blueshirts were manhandled in any way. It was actually a pretty clean game that didn’t feature any chippy play.

This early season schedule is a nightmare. The coaches learn things in games that they just don’t see in practice. A perfect example is the defense pairings. It took all of one real game for Quinn to realize that he needed to pair the rookies with veterans. They now play one game in the next 12 days. Absurd.

While the first line is clicking like this it covers up for the fact that the other three lines have scored one goal in two games. The Strome-Kreider-Kakko line in particular has not been productive so far in this young season.