Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad scores first goal of series in nick of time

Mika Zibanejad is a goal scorer. It’s what he does as well as anyone on the Rangers. He led the team with 39 goals this season.

So, make no mistake: the donut next to his name on the stat sheet through the first five games of this Rangers-Devils first-round playoff series was nagging at him.

Zibanejad had not been playing poorly in the series, he simply had not scored a goal yet.

So, when Zibanejad scored at 10:10 of the second period in Saturday night’s 5-2 Rangers win over the Devils in Game 6 at the Garden, it was a liberating moment for both him and his teammates, who celebrated wildly.

The goal gave the Rangers, who had fallen behind 1-0 at 11:49 of the first period, a 2-1 lead they not only didn’t relinquish but built upon.

“I’m not going to sit here and lie and say it wasn’t a good feeling seeing the puck go in, but the wins are what matters and we got the win that we needed and wanted tonight,’’ Zibanejad said. “Now we just keep going. We came here to win one game. You heard everyone talk about that. And another one on Monday.’’

Asked if it was liberating to see a goal go in six games into the series, Zibanejad said, “I’ve been trying to shoot … and now the puck goes in, so … I don’t know.’’

“It’s a beautiful game we play,’’ teammate Chris Kreider chimed in.

It was a Zibanejad blast from his power-play office at the left dot that was deflected past Devils rookie goaltender Akira Schmid by Kreider to tie the score at 1-1 with 25 seconds remaining in the first period.

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“I wish I scored on every shot,” Zibanejad said. “This would be a really simple game, an easy game. But it’s not. Playing with the guys I’m playing with, they keep trusting me and I keep trusting myself. As a whole, we played well tonight and that was a big one for us.”

“He also has to play with me,’’ Kreider chimed in. “I’m not exactly a prodigious playmaker, so … ’’
“I beg to differ on that,’’ Zibanejad said.

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“Mika has played good all series,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “He’s played great defensive hockey. Everybody wants to score, so it’s huge for him. He’s one of our top players. We’ve talked about him all year long. He wasn’t playing bad in any of the games, but guys like to score. He’s a big-time player for us and it was a big goal for us.’’

The goal opened up the Rangers’ offensive game.

“I think we got to our forecheck a little bit more today, and when you win the battle down low and are able to maintain some zone time — we have good players that can create,’’ Zibanejad said. “We know how hard it is to defend for a long period of time in your own zone. We tried to take advantage of that and the chances are going to be there.”

Said Kreider: “They came out with a very good push and were able to generate some zone time, but we did a good job of staying patient, maintaining lanes and getting pucks out when we could. Eventually we got some looks.’’

Zibanejad got his and cashed in this time.