Mika Zibanejad recorded the first-ever hat trick in a Winter Classic and logged two assists while leading the New York Rangers to a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night in Miami.
A sellout crowd of 36,153 attended the game at loanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins. Artemi Panarin chipped in with two goals and an assist while Alexis Lafreniere dished a career-high three assists for New York, which snapped a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Vincent Trocheck added two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves.
Zibanejad opened the scoring on a power play at 15:09 of the first period. It was his 116th power-play goal for the Rangers, tying him with Camille Henry and Chris Kreider for the most in franchise history. The Rangers are now 6-0-0 all-time in outdoor games. They also lead the NHL in road wins this season (15-8-2).
Sam Reinhart scored on a power play and Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves for the Panthers, who lost their second straight game. They are 2-3-1 over their past six games. Florida defenseman Seth Jones — who is set to represent the U.S. in the Olympics next month — took a puck to his neck/shoulder area in the first period. He didn’t return.
Wild 5, Ducks 2
Danila Yurov scored twice, Yakov Trenin had a goal and an assist and Quinn Hughes added four assists as visiting Minnesota topped Anaheim.
Hughes matched the Wild record for points in a game by a defenseman and established a franchise record for assists in a game by a blueliner. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves as Minnesota stretched its win streak against Anaheim to seven games and improved to 20-1-0 in its past 21 games against the Ducks.
Beckett Sennecke and Troy Terry had the Anaheim goals. Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots for the Ducks, who have lost a season-high five straight games (0-4-1).
Kraken 4, Canucks 3 (SO)
Matty Beniers scored the lone shootout goal to end the third and final round as Seattle defeated host Vancouver.
Cale Fleury, Chandler Stephenson and Ben Meyers scored in regulation for the Kraken, who improved to 6-0-1 in their past seven games. Goaltender Joey Daccord made 20 saves through regulation and overtime and stopped all three of Vancouver’s shootout attempts.
Jake DeBrusk had a goal and two assists for the Canucks, who dropped their fifth straight home game (0-4-1). Vancouver’s Kiefer Sherwood and Linus Karlsson also tallied, and Thatcher Demko stopped 25 of 28 shots.
Blues 4, Golden Knights 3
Brayden Schenn scored the winning goal with 1:33 left to lift St. Louis past visiting Vegas.
Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Justin Faulk also scored for St. Louis. Pavel Buchnevich and Mathieu Joseph had two assists, and Joel Hofer made 21 saves.
Keegan Kolesar, Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for the Golden Knights, who have just one victory in their last eight games (1-5-2). Carter Hart made 15 saves for Vegas. Jack Eichel returned after spending seven games on the injured list with a lower-body injury and was held without a point.
–Field Level Media
