Rangers celebrate Mika Zibanejad milestone, but game ‘not one to remember’
The New York Rangers were all on the ice before facing the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Monday night to salute center Mika Zibanejad, who was playing his 1,000th NHL game. The festivities were terrific – the Rangers do this kind of thing extremely well. Too bad their performance once the puck dropped was historically bad.
The Rangers spoiled Zibanejad’s big night by being outplayed and outhustled from the opening face-off to the final buzzer in a 2-1 loss that saw the Senators play with the kind of desperation teams chasing a playoff berth need. And the Blueshirts? They largely mailed it in.
Zibanejad’s wife, Irma, narrated a tribute video before fellow members of the leadership group – captain J.T. Miller and alternates Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck — showered the longest-tenured current Rangers player and his family with hugs and several forms of appreciation from the organization. The gifts included a family trip to Greece, a mini-silver stick for his daughter, Ella, and a custom-engraved silver stick for Zibanejad to commemorate the 1,000-game milestone.
“The presentation and the ceremony were great,” Zibanejad said postgame.
His teammates showed up to the Garden wearing long wigs, a nod to Zibanejad’s legendary flowing locks. They also wore custom blue T-shirts that read “M1KA” inside the Rangers shield and an illustration.
Unfortunately, there was a game to play – and only one team seemed interested in competing.
Ottawa outshot New York 13-3 (after a next-day scoring change added a shot) in the first period, 13-22 in the second and 33-10 for the game.
Zibanejad was one of the few Rangers (aside from goalie Igor Shesterkin) who showed any interest in competing. He had three of New York’s nine shots and narrowly missed tying the game in the third period – Ottawa goalie James Reimer denied him with his best save of the night.
Rangers honor Mika Zibanejad, then no-show against Senators
Zibanejad was emotional after the game despite his team’s dreadful performance.
“Besides the game and the result and the way it was played, (this was) not one to remember,” Zibanejad said, “but just the feels and emotions of this accomplishment. Having the guys in this room and my family and friends here – to be able to share it with them was special.
“I thank God, I thank my wife, I thank my family, I thank everyone. It’s still hard to take it all in.”
Zibanejad said he didn’t know his wife would be the one narrating the tribute video.
“It was special, just hearing her voice and what she says,” the Rangers’ leading scorer this season said, “and even hearing ‘I love you’ from Ella in the middle of it. It was a cool experience. I appreciate everything that they do for me.”
When asked what his younger self might have a hard time believing about the milestone, Zibanejad said simply, “That I played 1,000 games. I never thought I was going to play in the NHL, let alone play 1,000 games. To be here now is a cool achievement.”
The way his teammates played was anything but cool. The Rangers lost puck battles all over the ice and were a step slow all night, drawing plenty of pointed criticism from an unlikely source — MSG analyst Dave Maloney.
Miller was angry afterward about the way he and the rest of Zibanejad’s teammates no-showed on his big night.
“Today you should have a fire lit under your ass to go play for your teammate (Zibanejad) — a guy that feels like a cornerstone of the organization,” he said. “We go out and have four (shots) through two (periods) at home — a place where we haven’t been desperate enough this season.
“We got outplayed, we got outcompeted. Things that we’re just not OK with as a group, and it’s a shame on a night like tonight.”
