What did you do at work last?
Ah, scored five goals.
Mika Zibanejad scored five goals for the Rangers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Really, any of them important?
Ah, the last one was in overtime to get us a win and snap a skid.
Cool.
That’s about how it went for Mika Zibanejad on Thursday night as he potted five goals including the game-winner in extra time to defeat the Washington Capitals, 6-5, in New York.
“The puck followed me today, I guess,” Zibanejad said. “You look at the goals, some unbelievable plays were being made. Today I was at the right spot at the right time. Obviously a lot more happy that we won. It’s a night I’ll remember for a long time.”
Zibanejad has 38 goals on the season.
“Just sit back and watch it, enjoy it because it was a special night in so many ways for him and for us to win a game of that magnitude with the ebbs and flows of it,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “It was a special night, obviously, not just for Mika but for all of us to be part of it.”
Alexander Georgiev got the win on 29 saves.
“He’s (Zibanejad) probably one of the most underrated guys in the League that no one talks about,” the Rangers’ Ryan Strome said. ” It feels like the moment’s never too big for him and that’s a rare, rare asset in this league and I think he thrives in it. He wants the puck on the stick, and he knows how good he is. The best part about it is he’ll come tomorrow and he’ll put his head down and go to work. We follow when he does stuff like that. We’re just in awe of him and how special he’s been for us.”
Alex Ovechkin scored twice including the goal to force the extra session with less than a minute left in regulation.
The Rangers scored twice on six power play chances.
“We’ve got to get way more hardened to these situations,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “When the pressure and the emotion goes up our response needs to be different. We’re going through the process of learning and it’s certainly not any fun right now.”
Ilya Kovalchuk, Carl Hagelin and Garnet Hathaway added single markers for the Caps.
“Sometimes you have to go through these things,” the Capitals’ John Carlson said. “No one is happy about it. It was nice to at least get a point when we probably didn’t deserve one. But that doesn’t jade how we feel about what actually went on.”
Tony DeAngelo had the other goal for the Rangers.
“Going forward here, every game is going to be the biggest game of our season,” Zibanejad said. “We just have to keep going and keep playing the way we know we can and what makes us successful.”
[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Rangers highlights]
Ilya Samsonov made 33 saves in the loss.
“It’s more of us getting a point when you score a late goal like that, but we’re giving up too many chances,” Hagelin said. “We have to regroup, day off tomorrow, and then get excited for the game against [the Pittsburgh Penguins]. I think we play our best when we’re excited and we’re [ticked] off. We need to bring that against [Pittsburgh].”
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