Mika Zibanejad scare serves as stark reminder for Rangers in Stanley Cup pursuit
NY Post
This was a reminder of just how fragile the pursuit of the Stanley Cup can become. This was a reminder that it is impossible to bubble wrap the Rangers until the playoffs begin. This was a reminder that calamity is just around every corner, whether via slap shot that becomes friendly fire or a mid-ice collision creating collateral damage.
The Rangers seem to have avoided catastrophe on the Island on Tuesday night with Mika Zibanejad apparently having escaped a concussion after going splat! face first down on the ice, where he remained in a prone position for a scary minute after a mid-ice collision with Adam Pelech at 8:51 of the third period that was either accidental or disguised to look that way.
Head coach Peter Laviolette, enraged and perhaps shaken when he convened his postgame press briefing, left no doubt that he believed Pelech’s hit on Zibanejad as No. 93 steamed across the ice to the bench for a change was intentional. That would have been a polite term for it.
“He came back at the end — from that vicious hit, yeah,” Laviolette said of Zibanejad, who watched the final shift of this 4-2 defeat from the bench. “He came back from that vicious shoulder [and/or] elbow to the head.
“Watch it. Vicious — from behind.”
When asked if he thought that Pelech had intentionally clocked Zibanejad in the head as the defenseman stood at center ice looking away from the play, the Blueshirts coach said, “I do.”
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