So here is Mika Zibanejad, blazing-hot the way he was during the final six weeks of the 2019-20 season, when he scored 23 goals in the 22 games immediately preceding the pandemic pause, turning into one of hockey’s ultimate shooters.

While scoring four goals in the Blueshirts’ opening four games of this season, the elite center has been credited with 24 shots on net, but that’s hardly the whole of it, with No. 93 unleashing 38 attempts, including 12 in the opener against Tampa Bay and 11 on Monday against Anaheim. By the way, he did it while matching up against the Lightning’s and Ducks’ respective first lines.

Zibanejad’s average of 17.16 shots per 60 minutes ranks third in the league behind Boston’s David Pastrnak and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin among players with at least 50 minutes of ice time, per Natural Stat Trick. He is fourth in the NHL, trailing Pastrnak, Washington’s — or should I say, Putin’s? — Alex Ovechkin and Malkin with 27.17 attempts per 60. He leads the NHL in unblocked attempts per 60 with 24.31.

The power-play one-timer from the off-wing, left circle has become a weapon as lethal as those belonging to standard-setters Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos. The humming power play has five distinct components, but Zibanejad’s ability to nail down the hammer provides the finishing touch for this unit whose 33.3 percent success rate (5-for-15) does not quite reflect its dominance.