Mika Zibanejad's improved play is biggest positive in Rangers' three-game win streak

CALGARY, Alberta — Three victories in a row, the most recent a well-played, 4-3 win Tuesday over a depleted Vancouver Canucks team, earned the Rangers a day off Wednesday as coach Peter Laviolette canceled practice.

The Rangers (12-4-1) look to be back on track. A little more than a week ago, they frankly just weren’t good. Their defense was in a shambles, their top-line center wasn’t producing any offense, and only their goaltending was keeping them afloat.

“We were definitely playing not our best hockey,’’ defenseman Adam Fox, the Jericho native, said. “We’d been ‘sneaking away’ with wins, whether it be (good) goaltending or being able to score a few. But, yeah, I think early in the season, there's sometimes stuff you want to clean up.’’

They bottomed out in a 6-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Nov. 7 at Madison Square Garden, a game in which their best player, No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin, was pulled. In their next game, backup goalie Jonathan Quick stole a game for them in Detroit, a 4-0 win in which Quick was amazing and the score was hugely deceiving.

And then came a decent, albeit losing effort against the league’s best team, Winnipeg. They lost, 6-3, but played well. Afterward, everyone talked about all the good things they’d done in the game.

Mika Zibanejad’s game hit rock bottom that night. His three turnovers led to three Winnipeg goals, and the next day, the 31-year-old Swede bared his soul to reporters, talking about the need to stay positive during his struggles while admitting it was the “hardest thing ever’’ to do so.

But he scored a goal the next night in the win over San Jose that started the Rangers’ current three-game win streak. He had a goal and an assist on Chris Kreider’s game-winner Tuesday in Vancouver, giving him two goals and an assist in the last three games. All the Rangers have been better since the Winnipeg game – they’ve had more shots on goal and more shot attempts than their opponent. They have won more faceoffs than the opponent in all four games. But the uptick in Zibanejad’s play might be the most important positive in that period.

Against Vancouver, Zibanejad was driving play and forcing the issue all night, creating scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. He looked better than he has just about all season. Afterward, he looked like a man who had a great weight lifted off his shoulders.

“It’s been coming the last few games,’’ he said. “It’s nice to get some goals.’’

If this is the start of a surge in play for Zibanejad, that would be huge for the Rangers. The Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere line has done its share, and the Will Cuylle-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko line has been the Rangers’ best overall this season. The fourth line of rookie Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick and Jimmy Vesey has been effective in its role, as well.

If Zibanejad’s line, with wingers Kreider and Reilly Smith, can join the party and start producing too, that would give the Rangers four effective lines. And that might be enough to put them back into the conversation when talking about the league’s elite teams.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.