David Quinn had one play left to try and get the struggling Mika Zibanejad out of the season-long scoring funk he’s been in. It was something the Rangers coach had avoided doing, but he couldn’t avoid it anymore. On Saturday, he finally put his No. 1 center, Zibanejad, together with his No. 1 winger, Artemi Panarin.
Zibanejad and Panarin played together Saturday afternoon in the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals and Zibanejad ended up scoring his first goal in 13 games, although it came shorthanded and into an empty net. Still, the Rangers will hope that ending his long drought could be the start of Zibanejad getting back to being the dynamic offensive player he has been the past two seasons.