Mika Zibanejad returns after Nick Jensen high stick

Jensen's stick caught Zibanejad on the follow-through of a pass. It was an accident, and it still looked ugly.

Vince Z. Mercogliano

@vzmercogliano

Nick Jensen caught Mika Zibanejad up high with a stick on the follow through, which sent Zibanejad down to the ice for a while and then to the locker room. Scary stuff.

Zibanejad stayed down on the ice for a while, then went straight down the tunnel. Rangers fans know that walk. When your top-6 center leaves holding his face, everybody in the building starts doing injury math. On a high stick that sends a guy off, everyone expects a 4-minute double minor. That's not what happened here.

The officials went to review and came back with nothing. Under the rules, a stick that makes contact on a normal follow-through of a pass or shot isn't a high-sticking penalty, and that's the motion every replay showed. The beat writers agreed with the call. Some Rangers fans probably didn't.

Andrew Knoll

@AndrewKnollNHL

Looks like the review concurred with my assessment. No penalty.

Andrew Knoll@AndrewKnollNHL

Jensen makes his Ducks debut and with that double minor he's now got six PIMs in under 32 minutes. He high sticked Zibanejad here though honestly I didn't see any intent or malice. He was following through. Still nasty optics. Mika stayed down for a while.

It was a rough way for Jensen to start in Anaheim. The 35-year-old defenseman left Ottawa as an unrestricted free agent and signed a 2-year deal with the Ducks on July 1, with a $2.25 million cap hit. They signed him to be a steady veteran on a young blue line. His first night in the uniform will be remembered for knocking one of New York's best players out of the game for a few minutes.

That's all it turned out to be. Zibanejad was back on the bench and taking shifts about 5 minutes after the play, which is about as good as it gets when a stick blade hits you in the face.

Mollie Walker

@MollieeWalkerr

#NYR Mika Zibanejad is back on the ice

Coming back that fast is a good sign, but it doesn't settle anything. The next thing to watch is how Zibanejad looks the rest of the night and whether he's at practice. Face injuries can show up later as swelling, stitches or a visor. For now the Rangers got their center back right away, and nobody has to argue about a suspension for Jensen because the review found no penalty at all.