Greatest Moments of NHL Season … So Far: first round, matchup 28

The 2019-20 NHL season had many incredible moments before it paused on March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, and now fans can decide which one was the best.

The Greatest Moments of the NHL season … So Far have been placed into a bracket of 64 entries, and fans will vote on one matchup per day, ultimately deciding the greatest moment up until this point.

Fans can vote on Twitter and Instagram each day from noon until 10 a.m. ET the next day. Each day, the winner of that matchup will be revealed, and a new set of moments will go head-to-head.

Though fans will have the ultimate say, two NHL.com staffers will weigh in on the matchup each day to give his or her opinion on which one should advance to the next round.

In the matchup Sunday, emergency backup goalie David Ayres getting a win for the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning's 11-game winning streak.

The matchup Monday pits New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad scoring five goals against the Washington Capitals on March 5 against Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki foiling an attempted robbery.

John Kreiser, managing editor

It's hard to top the best individual performance of the season. Zibanejad did everything but sell hot dogs at Madison Square Garden on the way to becoming the third player in Rangers history to score at least five goals in a game. He also joined Sergei Fedorov of the Detroit Red Wings (on Dec. 26, 1996, also against Washington) as the only players in NHL history to cap a five-goal game by scoring in overtime when he beat Ilya Samsonov 33 seconds in for a 6-5 victory. That goal came after Zibanejad had scored his fourth of the game and second of the third period with 1:42 remaining to put New York ahead 5-4, only to have Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin tie the game 59 seconds later. It was a virtuoso performance by Zibanejad, who's emerged as one of the top scorers in the NHL this season.

Rob Reese, fantasy editor

Zibanejad should certainly be applauded for his on-ice heroics, but Borowiecki made one of the best plays of the season away from the rink when he broke up a burglary on his day off before a game against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 3. The Senators defenseman was shopping for his newborn baby when he saw a man break out a car window. "I see [the man] and hear this huge bang and just hear this blue Chevy Impala passenger-side window just shatter," Borowiecki said about the incident. "I yelled out 'Hey!' and I see him wrestling this huge hiking backpack and I yelled at him to put the backpack down, and he was kind of yelling and swearing at me, telling me to go away." Instead of being deterred, Borowiecki crossed the street and confronted the burglar, knocked him off the bike and recovered the backpack, which had passports, among other items, inside. Borowiecki then stayed by the car until police arrived and provided a statement. It turned out the woman whose backpack he saved was a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. It doesn't get any better than that.