Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers Match Player Stats On Mar 05, 2020

Mika Zibanejad scored his fifth goal of the game 33 seconds into overtime as the New York Rangers survived blowing four one-goal leads and recorded a wild 6-5 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Zibanejad became the third Ranger with a five-goal game and raised his season total to a career-high 38 by finishing off a breakaway. No NHL player had scored five goals in a game this season.

The 26-year-old Swede began the winning play by getting a lead pass from Artemi Panarin. He then beat Washington's Tom Wilson and flipped a backhander over goaltender Ilya Samsonov.

Zibanejad became the first Ranger to produce a five-goal game since Mark Pavelich in 1983. Don Murdoch also scored five in October 1976. Zibanejad scored a power-play goal in the first period, added two even-strength goals and then netted another power-play tally with 1:42 remaining to give New York a 5-4 lead.

Zibanejad's fourth goal came on the rebound of a shot by rookie Kappo Kakko but gave the Rangers the lead for 59 seconds. Alexander Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game with 43 seconds remaining in regulation, putting a rebound into the vacated right side of the net.

Defenseman Tony DeAngelo scored New York's other goal and had two assists. Panarin had three assists, and Pavel Buchnevich contributed two helpers as the Rangers snapped a three-game losing streak.

Carl Hagelin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Garnet Hathaway also scored for Washington, which is 6-9-2 in its past 17 games. Nicklas Backstrom, Richard Panik and John Carlson each had two assists, and Kovalchuk added one.

The Capitals fell into a tie for first place in the Metropolitan Division with the Philadelphia Flyers, whom they led by 15 points in early January.

New York goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves while Samsonov finished with 33 saves.

Hagelin opened the scoring by beating Georgiev on a sharp angle from the right circle 7:05 into the game. Nearly two minutes later, Zibanejad redirected a Panarin shot into the net.

Zibanejad scored his second goal with 5:29 into the second when his wrist shot from the right circle trickled off Samsonov and into the net. Kovalchuk tied it with 7:59 remaining in the second by putting a slap shot from the left circle over Georgiev's glove.

The Rangers took a 3-2 lead with 5:18 left in the second on DeAngelo's wrister from the left circle, but Washington leveled the score 16 seconds later on Kempny's one-timer.

Zibanejad and Ovechkin alternated goals while scoring twice apiece in the third period.

--Field Level Media