Rangers Honor Zibanejad, Struggle in Game

On Monday night, the Rangers celebrated Mika Zibanejad’s upcoming 1,000th NHL game with a heartwarming ceremony at Madison Square Garden.

However, once the game began, things took a turn. They faced a 2-1 defeat against the Senators, the very team that traded Zibanejad to New York back on July 18, 2016.

The ceremony included an emotional video narrated by Zibanejad’s wife, Irma, and some key members of the team presented gifts to the player and his family. Among the gifts were a family trip to Greece, a silver mini-stick for Zibanejad’s daughter, Ella, and a specially engraved silver hockey stick to mark his 1,000-game milestone.

But the mood shifted quickly as the Rangers stumbled through the first period. The Senators found the net first, with a power-play goal from Shane Pinto that, interestingly enough, needed two posts before the puck finally got through. It wasn’t until Juuso Parsinen, returning from an injury, managed to get the Rangers’ first shot on goal with just over six minutes left in the first period.

The Rangers couldn’t manage to put anything on the scoreboard until late in the first when they finally earned a power play. Parsinen then bounced the puck off the glass in a situation that led to two bench minors, contributing to the Rangers ending the period short-handed.

As the game continued, the Rangers struggled offensively. They managed to get only nine shots on goal throughout the night, which is quite astonishing—it’s the lowest since the NHL started officially tracking shots by period in 1965-66.

Despite Connor Sheary scoring early in the third period to tie things up, the Rangers couldn’t find the net again. It was a tough night overall. Reflecting on the highs of the ceremony and the lows of the game felt rather bittersweet in the end.