Mika Zibanejad grabbed the headlines with a heroic return and Henrik Lundqvist also played a starring role as the New York Rangers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
It was a perfect start to the Thanksgiving holiday for the New York Rangers who picked up their third straight win and things are finally starting to click for this team now.
Of course, the majority of the narrative from the game will revolve around Zibanejad who showed emphatically that he doesn’t do rust after returning in style.
But there were other stars of the game, too. Lundqvist stood on his head with 41 saves while Brendan Smith and Adam Fox both made big contributions.
And it was a hell of a first period for the Blueshirts who came out with real intent, and they refused to take their foot off the throat of the Hurricanes.
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Zibanejad needed just a few minutes before he went back to doing what he did best before injury struck, and those inside MSG were certainly thankful to see their franchise center back.
Brendan Smith inflicted more damage on Carolina with a thunderous slap shot, and Adam Fox completed a dominant opening period with his fourth goal of the year.
Artemi Panarin also continued wreaking havoc on the rest of the NHL with two assists, and the Rangers were absolutely rolling.
Carolina did fight back, as to be expected, and goals from Ryan Dzingel and Warren Foegele could have set the scene for an implosion from the Rangers.
However, these young Blueshirts seem to be learning their lesson and they did what they had to in the third period in order to grind out the game, while Lundqvist played his part in heroic fashion to ensure that the New York Rangers went into Thanksgiving on a high.
Let’s go through some of the biggest takeaways from a third straight win for an improving Rangers team…