Zibanejad scores five goals for Rangers in OT win against Capitals

NEW YORK --Mika Zibanejad scored five goals, the final one 33 seconds into overtime to give the New York Rangers a 6-5 win against the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

"The puck followed me today, I guess," Zibanejad said. "You look at the goals, some unbelievable plays were being made. Today I was at the right spot at the right time. Obviously a lot more happy that we won. It's a night I'll remember for a long time."
It was Zibanejad's first five-goal game in the NHL, second hat trick of the season and fourth of his NHL career. He has 38 goals this season.
"Just sit back and watch it, enjoy it because it was a special night in so many ways for him and for us to win a game of that magnitude with the ebbs and flows of it," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "It was a special night, obviously, not just for Mika but for all of us to be part of it."
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Rangers highlights]
Ilya Kovalchuk scored his first goal for the Capitals and had two assists, Alex Ovechkin scored twice, and Ilya Samsonov made 33 saves for Washington (40-20-7), which lost for the ninth time in 13 games (4-7-2). The Capitals are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers for first place in the Metropolitan Division after leading them by 15 points Jan. 7.
The Capitals took six penalties and allowed two-power play goals. They took five during a 5-2 loss to the Flyers on Wednesday.
"We've got to get way more hardened to these situations," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. "When the pressure and the emotion goes up our response needs to be different. We're going through the process of learning and it's certainly not any fun right now."

Tony DeAngelo had one goal and two assists, Artemi Panarin had three assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves for the Rangers (36-27-4), who had lost three in a row. They are two points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"Going forward here, every game is going to be the biggest game of our season," Zibanejad said. "We just have to keep going and keep playing the way we know we can and what makes us successful."

Zibanejad's fourth goal, on a power play at 18:18 of the third period, gave the Rangers a 5-4 lead. Ovechkin tied it 5-5 at 19:17 with his 47th goal of the season.
Zibanejad scored his third goal 12 seconds into the third period for a 4-3 lead. Ovechkin tied it 4-4 at 9:22.
Carl Hagelin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 7:05 of the first period. Zibanejad tied it 1-1 on the power play at 9:01, a tap-in of Panarin's shot from the point, and made it 2-1 at 5:29 of the second period.
Kovalchuk tied it 2-2 at 12:01 with his 10th goal of the season. He has three points in five games with Washington since he was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 23.

DeAngelo put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 14:42. Garnet Hathaway tied it 3-3 at 14:58.
"Sometimes you have to go through these things," Capitals defenseman John Carlson said. "No one is happy about it. It was nice to at least get a point when we probably didn't deserve one. But that doesn't jade how we feel about what actually went on."

They said it

"It's more of us getting a point when you score a late goal like that, but we're giving up too many chances. We have to regroup, day off tomorrow, and then get excited for the game against [the Pittsburgh Penguins]. I think we play our best when we're excited and we're [ticked] off. We need to bring that against [Pittsburgh]." -- Capitals forward Carl Hagelin
"He's probably one of the most underrated guys in the League that no one talks about. It feels like the moment's never too big for him and that's a rare, rare asset in this league and I think he thrives in it. He wants the puck on the stick, and he knows how good he is. The best part about it is he'll come tomorrow and he'll put his head down and go to work. We follow when he does stuff like that. We're just in awe of him and how special he's been for us."-- Rangers forward Ryan Strome on Mika Zibanejad

Need to know

Zibanejad is the first NHL player to score five goals and in overtime since Sergei Fedorov for the Detroit Red Wings against the Capitals on Dec. 26, 1996. … Zibanejad is the seventh player to score five in a game since 1994-95 and first since Patrik Laine for the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 24, 2018. … He is the third player in Rangers history to accomplish the feat. (Mark Pavelich, Feb. 23, 1983 against the Hartford Whalers; Don Murdoch, Oct. 12, 1976 against the Minnesota North Stars). … DeAngelo has 52 points (14 goals, 38 assists). He is the first Rangers defenseman to score 50 since Brian Leetch had 55 in 2001-02. … Ovechkin has 705 NHL goals, three behind Mike Gartner for seventh in history. … The Capitals allowed at least three goals for the 10th consecutive game, their most since nine straight from Feb. 25-March 15, 2007.

What's next

Capitals: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, ATTSN-PT, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Rangers: Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, MSG+, NHL.TV)