MIAMI — Have a day, Mika Zibanejad.
He made Sweden’s Olympic team, had a hat trick and put together the first five-point NHL outdoor game in history, all in the span of a few hours, to help the New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Friday night in the Winter Classic — the first outdoor game played in the Sunshine State.
Artemi Panarin scored twice, Alexis Lafrenière had three assists and Igor Shesterkin stopped 36 shots for the Rangers, who improved to 6-0-0 when playing outdoors.
“I think it’s hard to grasp the whole day,” Zibanejad said. “But yeah, a great 12, 16 hours. It’s been a fun day.”
Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, which was playing outdoors for the first time and lost for the fourth time in its last six contests overall. The Panthers gave up goals to Zibanejad and Panarin 64 seconds apart late in the first period, giving New York a 2-0 lead, and the Rangers kept control the rest of the way.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the NHL deserved enormous credit for pulling off an event he called “spectacular.”
“A Southern setting (and) the ice was fine,” Maurice said. “The spectacle was incredible. It was just brilliant, the entire kind of weekend. … I would imagine the Rangers really loved it. But for the losing coach, it was an incredible memory.”
Florida outshot New York 37-20 and had 38 hits to New York’s 20, but watched the Rangers block of its 27 shot attempts.
The star of the night was Zibanejad, who reached five points in a game for the fourth time.
“He’s one of our core players,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “We rely on him in so many circumstances out there on both sides of the puck.”
Zibanejad’s third goal was an empty-netter with 1:28 left. Rangers fans tried throwing hats to no avail; the seats were too far from the ice for any of them to get even close to the playing surface.
“We have amazing support wherever we go,” Zibanejad said.
The roof was open, as were the huge window panels behind what typically is left field at loanDepot Park — home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins. There was some snow falling from the edges of the stadium, there were blasts of fire and after years of planning, there was hockey on a baseball field.
“Awesome experience,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Really happy I was able to able to experience something like this. Would have loved to get the win, but at the end of the day, a true first-class experience.”
Did it work? Outdoor ice typically doesn’t hold up with temperatures in the 60s, and there were some player complaints that the surface wasn’t conducive to speedy play. But it worked well enough for the Rangers, who were 4-6-3 in their last 13 games coming into Friday.
“These events are a lot more fun and a lot more memorable when you win,” Zibanejad said.
The temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) at game time was the second-warmest of any of the NHL’s 44 outdoor games that have counted in the standings. It was 2 degrees cooler than on Feb. 27, 2016, when Detroit beat Colorado at Denver’s Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies.
The Rangers — with a snow effect around their walkway — were called to the ice at 8:13 p.m. The Panthers — as fire shot skyward along their path — came out about a minute later. And that’s about when snowflakes began falling from the top of the stadium, as the roof continued opening.
There was another celebration before faceoff, when Rangers and Panthers players who will be part of the U.S. Olympic hockey team at the Milan Cortina Games next month were introduced. Panthers defenseman Seth Jones made the team earlier Friday, as did injured Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk.
Tkachuk placed an American flag over Jones’ shoulders and the crowd roared.
It was a spectacle, as expected. The Rangers showed up in all-white outfits, as if it was a beach day. The Panthers came with a “Miami Vice” theme, wearing white suits, pastel shirts and even showing up in Ferraris instead of a bus.
“If you would have asked me 25 years ago … this might be the last place that I thought it would take place,” Sullivan said. “So, I just think it speaks volumes for technology and its advancements and the ability to put a sheet of ice down in this type of environment.”
Rangers: Host Utah on Monday.
Panthers: Host Colorado on Sunday.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl