Rangers vs. Senators: Lineups, storylines in Mika Zibanejad’s milestone game
Monday night will be a special night at Madison Square Garden, with Mika Zibanejad playing his 1,000th NHL game, when his current team, the New York Rangers, hosts his former one, the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s the team that got me my first chance to be in the NHL and believed in me a lot,” Zibanejad told NHL.com about his milestone game being against the team that drafted him No. 6 overall in 2011. “To be able to do it against them, it feels like a full circle moment. If I could have asked or even thought about picking a team to do it against, that would be the team.”
The 32-year-old forward played the first 281 games of his NHL career, and had a pair of 20-goal seasons, with the Senators. He was traded to the Rangers along with a second-round pick on July 18, 2016, for center Derick Brassard and a seventh-round draft pick.
Yes, it was an absolute heist for the Rangers and then-general manager Jeff Gorton.
Zibanejad is now the longest-tenured current Ranger; this will be his 719th game with them. He scored his 280th goal with the Rangers in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, and is tied with Adam Graves for fourth-most in franchise history. It also was his 30th goal of the season, the fourth time he’s reached that mark on Broadway — tied for third most in Rangers history.
His 122 power-play goals are first in Rangers history; he’s seventh all-time in points (656) and ninth in assists (376) with the Blueshirts. Zibanejad becomes the 422nd player (418 skaters. four goalies) in NHL history to play 1,000 games.
As such, in a disappointing season filled with so many lows, the Rangers (28-33-9) will celebrate a definite high point with Zibanejad on Monday. A well-deserved pregame ceremony will honor the veteran alternate captain, who enters play riding a three-game goal streak and four-game point streak.
As for the Rangers, they look to end a four-game skid (0-3-1), when they host a Senators team they’re 5-1-1 against in their past seven meetings. This is the finale of the season series; the Rangers won 4-2 up in Ottawa on Dec. 4, and lost 8-4 at MSG on Jan. 14.
3 storylines when Rangers host Senators
1. Need to fix ‘major issue’
The Rangers allowed six power-play goals in their past five games, at least one in each contest. They now rank 25th in the NHL on the penalty kill, with a poor 77.6 percent success rate.
When asked about it, coach Mike Sullivan didn’t mince words.
“Yeah, it’s been a major issue. We’re giving up way too many,” he said Sunday after the home loss to the Jets.
The Senators are tied for 10th on the power play this season (22.9 percent), but are just 1-for-9 in their past three games.
2. Speaking of the Senators …
This is a huge game for the Senators, who enter play four points behind the Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Detroit Red Wings are also ahead of the Senators in the tight battle for a playoff berth with three weeks remaining on the schedule.
Ottawa’s coming off a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, and has victories in four of its past five games, and seven of nine. They have three 20-goal scorers, including Tim Stutzle, who leads the Senators with 32. Plus Brady Tkachuk has 19 goals in just 49 games.
James Reimer starts in goal for Ottawa against Igor Shesterkin for New York.
3. No Drew for you
Drew Fortescue took part in the morning skate, wearing a No. 45 practice sweater. However, the 20-year-old left-shot defenseman won’t make his Rangers debut on Monday. Coach Mike Sullivan emphasized that the former Boston College shutdown defender needs a full practice or two with the team before playing an NHL game.
Fortescue signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Rangers over the weekend, following the end to his junior season at BC. Sullivan said that he anticipates the 2023 third-round draft pick will play some games with the Rangers before the season ends, just as Fortescue’s friend and former BC teammate Gabe Perreault did a year ago.
“He’s a great kid, and he’s obviously really excited,” Sullivan said Monday morning. “His enthusiasm will be great for our group. We look forward to working with him.”
New York Rangers projected lineup
Alexis Lafreniere — Mika Zibanejad — Gabe Perreault
Will Cuylle — Vincent Trocheck —Taylor Raddysh
Tye Kartye — J.T. Miller — Conor Sheary
Juuso Parssinen — Adam Edstrom — Jaroslav Chmelar
Vladislav Gavrikov — Adam Fox
Matthew Robertson — Braden Schneider
Connor Mackey — Will Borgen
Igor Shesterkin
Dylan Garand
Rangers vs. Senators: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators
When: Monday March 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: MSG
