NHL roundup: Zibanejad nets hat trick as Rangers beat Panthers 5-1 in Winter Classic
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
MIAMI (AP) — Send the New York Rangers outdoors, and they become unbeatable.
Mika Zibanejad had a hat trick, Artemi Panarin scored twice and the Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Friday night in the Winter Classic — the first outdoor game played in the Sunshine State.
Alexis Lafrenière had three assists and Igor Shesterkin stopped 36 shots for the Rangers, who improved to 6-0-0 in outdoor games.
Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, which was playing outdoors for the first time and lost for the fourth time in its last six contests overall. The Panthers gave up goals to Zibanejad and Panarin 64 seconds apart late in the first period, giving New York a 2-0 lead, and the Rangers kept control the rest of the way.
Zibanejad’s third goal was an empty-netter with 1:28 left. Rangers fans tried throwing hats to no avail; the seats were too far from the ice for any of them to get even close to the playing surface.
The roof was open, as were the huge window panels behind what typically is left field at loanDepot Park — home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins. There was some snow falling from the edges of the stadium, there were blasts of fire and after years of planning, there was hockey on a baseball field.
Did it work? Outdoor ice typically doesn’t hold up with temperatures in the 60s, and there were some player complaints that the surface wasn’t conducive to speedy play. But it worked well enough for the Rangers, who were 4-6-3 in their last 13 games coming into Friday.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Friday:
BLUES 4 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brayden Schenn scored the game-winning goal at 18:27 of the third period, leading St. Louis to a victory over Vegas.
Oskar Sundquist, Justin Faulk and Alexey Toropchenko also scored for the Blues. Joe Hofer recorded 22 saves.
Pavel Dorofeyev, Mark Stone and Keegan Kolesar scored for the Golden Knights, who are 1-5-2 in their last eight games. Vegas has allowed four or more goals in five of those games.
Carter Hart saved 15 shots for Vegas.
Vegas defenceman Brayden McNabb sat out with an upper-body injury sustained Wednesday against Nashville, snapping his 298 consecutive games played. It was the 10th-longest active streak.
St. Louis scored two goals in 58 seconds of the second period for a 3-1 lead. Faulk scored on a wrist shot from the right circle goal at 5:39 and Sundqvist on a snap shot at 6:37.
Vegas cut it to 3-2 on a goal by Stone and tied it at 3 on Dorofeyev’s goal at 8:29 of the third period.
WILD 5 DUCKS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Danila Yurov scored twice, Quinn Hughes had four assists and Minnesota beat Anaheim.
Kirill Kaprizov, Yakov Trenin and Nico Sturm also scored for the Wild, who earned a point for the fifth straight game (3-0-2). Filip Gustavsson stopped 26 shots.
Minnesota is 22-4-4 in its last 30 games, and 8-1-2 since acquiring Hughes, the 2024 Norris Trophy winner, in a blockbuster with Vancouver on Dec. 12.
Beckett Sennecke and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim, which has lost five straight and nine of 11. Lukas Dostal had 29 saves, including 17 in the second period.
Yurov put the game out of reach when he redirected Hughes’ shot past Dostal for a 4-1 lead 3:21 into the third. Sturm’s shot from the left circle made it 5-1 with 4:58 left.
Dostal made eight saves during a pair of penalty kills in the first seven minutes of the second, but he caught an unlucky break when the Wild scored on a double-deflection to take a 2-0 lead at the 8:10 mark.
KRAKEN 4 CANUCKS 3 (SO)
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Matty Beniers scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Seattle Kraken a 4-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks.
Cale Fleury, Chandler Stephenson and Ben Meyers all scored in regulation for the Kraken, who are 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Joey Daccord had 20 saves through overtime.
Jake DeBrusk had a goal and two assists for his first multi-point game of the season, and Kiefer Sherwood and Linus Karlsson also scored for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko finished with 25 saves.
After the first five skaters failed to score in the tiebreaker, Beniers skated in on Demko from the left side, deked the goalie to his left and cut back and put it into the open side of the net for the win.
Karlsson’s goal tied the score 3-3 at 6:15 of the third period.