Zibanejad arrives at the right time
Spezza injury provides big opportunity
At some point late Wednesday night, as he was receiving the Justin Bieber treatment at Scotiabank Place, 19-year-old Mika Zibanejad was surely tempted to pinch himself.
Did all this really happen so fast? With all due respect to Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte, Zibanejad starred in his own version of 48 Hours this week, complete with Hollywood overtones.
Ottawa Senators fans know the ending to the movie: Applause raining down as Zibanejad scored his first career NHL goal during the second period of a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“Obviously, when you get on the bench right away and (the cheering) is loud and clear, I guess I couldn’t really miss it,” Zibanejad said of being shown on the video scoreboard following the celebration of his power play slapshot past Montreal goaltender Peter Budaj. “It’s always nice to hear that. Obviously, it was a really good feeling when I saw that puck go in. It was nice.”
In the third period, he was a puck bounce away from splitting through the middle of the Canadiens defence. He completed the night by being named a game star.
A night earlier, Zibanejad was named the first star, registering an assist and an all-around impressive display in a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.
Now, the backstory for those who might have missed it. You don’t have to rewind the clock back very far.
Before Tuesday’s game, Zibanejad was a question mark of a prospect for most Senators fans, wondering whether the club made a mistake in drafting him sixth overall in 2011, ahead of Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets, Sean Couturier of the Philadelphia Flyers and Dougie Hamilton of the Boston Bruins. Doubts had been created because of his rough 2011-12 season in Sweden and due to the injury-scarred start to his North American career with Binghamton in the AHL this season.
As fortune would have it, he just happened to be back in Ottawa on the weekend, visiting his girlfriend during the AHL all-star break. He had his equipment with him, aiming to hook up with his Binghamton teammates for a pair of games in St. John’s, Nfld., Friday and Saturday.
Then, centre Jason Spezza’s back problems resurfaced during Sunday’s shootout loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins. As we know now, Spezza will require surgery and could be out of the lineup for two months.
The call went out for Zibanejad, also a centre, who made a surprise entrance at Monday’s practice. He arrived a few minutes late, adding to the drama.
Still, there was uncertainty whether he would play at all.
With everything that has happened since — a pair of big games in Senators victories, and the big, bad news for the Senators surrounding Spezza — Zibanajed is now definitely part of the picture.
Instead of lugging his own equipment on a commercial flight to join the farm team on The Rock, someone else was taking care of his bag Thursday as he boarded the big league team’s charter south for a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.
“If he continues to play at that level, he will be here awhile,” said Senators general manager Bryan Murray.
Right winger Erik Condra, fast earning a reputation for making everyone around him better, has served as Zibanejad’s linemate for the past two games. He has been impressed with the rookie’s speed, strength and shot.
There’s plenty of room for development and improvement, of course. Zibanejad must prove he can deliver night after night in the big leagues. For everything he accomplished Wednesday — he scored his first goal, saw power play time and had three shots on goal — he only played 9:15. He also won only two of 10 faceoffs.
Perhaps, by now, everything that has happened so suddenly in the past week has sunk in. At some point, he’ll also figure out what to do with his precious, first-goal puck.
“We’ll see what I do with it,” Zibanejad said, smiling widely after Wednesday’s win. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
GONCHAR MAKES TRIP
Amid the doom and gloom of Spezza’s back surgery, there was some good news for the Senators on the injury front. Defenceman Sergei Gonchar, who missed Wednesday’s game due to a “lower body” problem, flew with the Senators to Raleigh on Thursday.