The day after Pavel Buchnevich became the first Rangers player to score a hat trick on his birthday, Mika Zibanejad came up just as huge for the Rangers on his birthday. The now 28-year-old Zibanejad scored a power-play goal with three minutes left to break a tie and give the Rangers a desperately needed 5-3 victory over the Devils in Newark.
The win gave the Rangers a sweep of the four-game series between the teams and allowed them to keep pace with the Boston Bruins in the race for the playoffs, following the Bruins’ 6-3 win earlier in the day over the Washington Capitals.