Mika Zibanejad didn’t seem like someone who had just broken a scoring drought to help his team win.
Friday night, after his goal helped the Rangers (18-5-3) move into first place in the Metropolitan Divison with a 2-1 win over the Sabres, the first words out of Zibanejad’s mouth were about what the team had done wrong.
“I felt like we gave them their chances,” Zibanejad said. “And the chances that they got and the momentum they got was from our mistakes. Especially in the second. And I don’t know, we didn’t really play our game fully.”
Maybe it’s a symptom of the Rangers’ status that they can be unhappy with themselves after a win. Maybe they have played below par since returning from Chicago, where a win Tuesday was their seventh straight. They were blown out by the Avalanche on Wednesday and they did not play especially well, at least according to them, against the Sabres.
There’s some truth to the thought that the win Friday wasn’t the Rangers’ best game. According to Natural Stat Trick’s count, they were out-chanced at five-on-five, and needed 35 saves from Alexandar Georgiev as well as a review that wiped out a game-tying goal due to offsides in the final minute.
But they also have won 12 of their past 14 games heading into Sunday, when they will play host to the Predators. And star goaltender Igor Shesterkin seems to be close to returning from injury, which would only help them keep up the momentum.
“I don’t have the perfect answer right now,” Zibanejad said, when asked if the Rangers had lost something in their play this past week. “But again, we’re happy with the win. Maybe not happy with the way we played for 60 minutes. But again, I think we just got to keep reminding ourselves what we can do when we stick to our game plan. How we play when we play like we should.
“I think that’s the challenge every team has. Every team can have really good 20 minutes or 15 minutes or 40 minutes. But you just gotta do that consistently and I think that’s something for us to become that team that we want to. We have to raise that level.”
Head coach Gerard Gallant noted that he wanted to see the Blueshirts play a 60-minute game, but he wasn’t as discouraged as Zibanejad.
“Tonight, we came out, had a great first period, didn’t play as well in the second or third,” Gallant said. “Wasn’t like we were dominating tonight in the second or third. They had a push. They’re the home team. They got some pride, too, so they pushed back a little bit. And again I thought our goalie made some unbelievable saves.
“But we can be better. It’s no doubt.”
Gallant specifically brought up turnovers as driving Buffalo’s chances. The Sabres’ shot totals rose from six in the first period to 13 in the second and 18 in the third.
“Buffalo works hard, they compete hard, but we gave them a lot of those opportunities in the second period that, [it’s a] self-inflicted wound,” Gallant said. “We got to be better in those situations.”
Still, it’s hard to argue the Rangers have anything but momentum.
“I think it’s easier to go back and look at the games and see what we have to do better, what we have to do more, when we win,” Zibanejad said. “Rather than losing and then start panicking a little bit. I think that goes for everyone. It’s a lot easier when you win.”