Zibanejad, who earlier Friday was named to Team Sweden for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, broke the mark of four points set by Jordan Kyrou of the St. Louis Blues in the 2022 Winter Classic. It was the first hat trick in Winter Classic history.
Artemi Panarin had two goals and an assist, Alexis Lafreniere had three assists, and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves for the Rangers (20-18-5), who improved to 6-0-0 outdoors, including 3-0-0 in the Winter Classic. Vincent Trocheck had two assists.
Sam Reinhart scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves for the Panthers (21-16-3), who played their first NHL outdoor game in front of a sellout crowd of 36,153.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions played most of the game without defenseman Seth Jones, who left at 7:54 of the first period with an upper-body injury after being hit high with a shot from Lafreniere.
The game-time temperature was 63.1 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the warmest Winter Classic in history and the second-warmest NHL outdoor game, behind the Stadum Series at Coors Field in Denver (65 degrees) on Feb. 27, 2016.
Zibanejad gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 15:09 of the first period with his eighth power-play goal of the season. Lafreniere skated the puck down the left side and slid it to the top of the crease, where Zibanejad redirected it in.
It was his 116th power-play goal with New York, moving him into a tie for the all-time Rangers lead with Chris Kreider and Camille Henry.
The line of Zibanejad, Panarin and Lafreniere struck again 1:04 later to make it 2-0. This time, Panarin scored on a long wrist shot that appeared to hit Panthers forward Brad Marchand before going through a screen in front by Zibanejad at 16:13.
The Rangers made it 3-0 at 58 seconds of the second period on Zibanejad’s second goal of the night, the center one-timing a pass in the left circle from Lafreniere past Bobrovsky.
Reinhart scored on the power play at 2:20 of the third period, knocking in a loose puck in the slot to make it 3-1. The goal came after Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski went off for tripping Mackie Samoskevich along the boards at 1:39.
Panarin made it 4-1 at 12:25 on a wrist shot from the top of the slot. With three points Friday, he tied three players for most career points in NHL outdoor games with seven.
With Bobrovsky pulled for the extra attacker, Zibanejad scored a short-handed empty-net goal for the 5-1 final at 18:32. He became the third player with a hat trick in an outdoor game, along with David Pastrnak (2021 NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe) and Tyler Toffoli (2020 Stadium Series).
