In a few days, it will be Lias Ande﷽rsson’s first trip to St. Louis. Talking about food in the c🎶ity, the Rangers’ 20-year-old forward was enticed, but he knew who eventually would choose the restaurant.
“Mika will know where to💛 go,” Andersson said, referring to his elder Swedishꦺ brethren, Mika Zibanejad. “He always knows where to go.”
This is part of the five-man Swedish contingent inside the Blueshirts locker room that also features goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Jesper Fast, as well as n🍨ewly added Freddy Claesson. The five went out to a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner about a week before the league’s official three-day🅺 break, which ends with Thursday night’s Garden match against the Blue Jackets. The schedule continues with the annual New Year’s trip, this season going from Nashville (Saturday night) to St. Louis (Monday night).
They ate at the renowned Aquavit, on 55th Street between Park and Madison avenues,😼 where Zibanejad has become friendly with two-Michelin-starred-chef Emma Bengtsson. She prepared a meal that included meatballs, sausages and a fish dish called Inlagd Sill.
“It’s herring with like mustard. It sounds disgusting. I didn’t like it unt🅷il last year. I didn’t try it. I just looked at it and said, ‘No way I’m eating that,’ ” Zibanejad said. “It’s just all-around great food. It’s not just turkey. So I’m happy about that.”
The fact is the NH🀅L might be dominated by Canadians and Americans, but it is still a diverse league. Those from different countries manage to stick together, and that is why Zibanejad has gone out of his way to try to make Andersson feel at home following his call-up from AHL Hartford on Nov. 5.
After a brief time together last season following Andersson’s selection with the No. 7-overall pick, the two both went to play for their country i🧜n the World Championships in Denmark, winning a gold medal. That was when the 25-year-old Zibanejad took Andersson un𝓰der his wing.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for me to just be a support guy for him,” said Zibanejad, whose father is Iranian and mother is Finnish but who grew up in Sweden. “I know I’ve been helped, and a lot of guys have been helped in the lea💧gue. But I think there’s not a whole lot of Swedes compared to Americans or Canadians. So I think it’s more valuable when you have a Swede that can take care of you.”
When Zibanejad came into the league with the ✅Senators, he was groomed by fellow Swedes Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson — among others. It was a similar path to the one Andersson is on, so he was trying to pay it forward with his guidan🙈ce.
“I had a lot of guys that helped me, but when it’s Swedish, it can be a little bit more open,” Zibanejad said. “We come from the same school, the wa🃏y we think, the way we do things, the similarities. We’ve gone through roughly the same way to get here, and I think it’s maybe a little bit more valuable that way.”
This is not quite like the Rangers of 2005-06, when Jaromir Jagr was leading a gang of Czechs inside the locker room. This team is diverse, with plღayers from Russia, the Czech Republic, Norway and Bulgaria — to go along w൲ith those from Canada and the US. And although they may not be winning quite as much as they would want in a year that has been classified as rebuilding, they seem to be getting along quite well.
“I just think it’s human nature that when you’re from the same country and you’re living in a different c♒ountry, you maybe create a little bit of a different bond,” first-year head coach David Quinn said. “But I think there’s a good camaraderie between the Swedes, the Canadians, the Americans, the Czechs — and whoever else we have. It’s a good group that way.
“People ask me a lot, ‘How’s it been?’ And one thing I always say is that it has been a great group to coa💯ch. There is a good feel within the walls of the lo♐cker room.”
A good feel with a hint of Swede⭕, and maybe the u🦩nderlying smell of Inlagd Sill.