PHLADELPHIA — This is the Mika Zibanejad the Rangers envisioned upon acquiring him (and a second-rounder) from Ottawa in exchange for Derick Brassard during the summer of 2016 and then when signing No. 93 to a five-year contract worth $26.75 million last July.
This is the No. 93 who is assertive and dynamic in playing the 200-foot game while emerging with the puck from battles, setting up teammates on the rush and off the cycle while scoring in bunches off the most lethal shot on the team.
And this represents a sharp reversal in fortune for Zibanejad, who, following a strong getaway, was a midseason shell of himself after returning in mid-December from a concussion that, the center told The Post, “was not just one or two for me.