In Miami, the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad hit for a hat trick and assisted on two other goals for a five-point night in a 5-1 for New York over the Florida Panthers in Friday night’s 2026 Winter Classic.
The Rangers improved to 3-0-0 in Winter Classic appearances, and are 6-0-0 in outdoor games.
Zibanejad recorded the first hat trick in a Winter Classic match.
“It’s hard to grasp the whole day like that,” Zibanejad said. “It was a great 12-16 hours.”
He is one of three [;ayers to score a hat trick in outdoor games.
“It’s hard to put in words what he means to this group,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think he’s the type of player that can will our group to win.”
Artemi Panarin hit for a double and three points in the win.
Alexis Lafreniere had a trio of assists for the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves in the Rangers win.
Sam Reinhart was the lone striker for the Panthers. He scored in the third period after the Rangers had taken a 3-0 lead through the first 40 minutes of the game.
“Obviously, you would like a better result. It’s been a heck of few days but ultimately [we] would have liked a better game,” Reinhart said. “From the get-go, I thought we might have pushed at times, but they went to the areas that made it difficult in front of our net and we made it easy in front of theirs. So, that seemed like the difference tonight.”
Zibanejad hit off the power play to open the scoring, and Panarin scored in the first period to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.
“These events are a lot more fun and a lot memorable when you win,” Zibanejad said.
New York struck twice on the power play in three chances, and scored a shorthanded goal late. They killed off six of seven chances by the Panthers.
Zibanejad made it 3-0 with less than a minute gone in the middle frame.
“He was unbelievable,” New York defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said of Zibanejad. “Five points, you can’t beat that. He played great. What am I supposed to say? Dude is a hero.”
Reinhart then hit for his marker in the third, and the Rangers were needed to kill off a delay of game penalty before Panarin hit on the Rangers’ next power play for a 4-1 advantage.
“I thought it was a really important time of the game,” Sullivan said, “because that could have gone one or two ways. They get another goal and all of the sudden, it’s a hockey game.”
Zibanejad cpmpleted his hat trick with less than two minutes left in the game, on a shorthanded, 6-on-4, situation with a shot from inside the defensive zone for the 5-1 final.
“I thought our best players were our very best players tonight,” Sullivan said.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves in the loss.