Rangers center Mika Zibanejad fumbles in loss to Jets

On November 14, 2024By Littum

NEW YORK – You could say the Rangers played better in Tuesday’s losing effort than they did in a couple of recent wins, but they don’t play the games for consolation prizes.

They had a chance to knock off the NHL-leading Jets at Madison Square Garden and let it slip through their fingers, with a few costly mistakes resulting in a 6-3 loss. It marked New York’s fourth loss in its last eight games, while Winnipeg improved to 15-1 during this record-setting start to the season.

“When you play against that team, you need more discipline,” forward Artemi Panarin said. “It’s like a playoff game.”

The Rangers (9-4-1) went toe-to-toe with the hottest team in North America and held their own — at least until the final period.

In particular, they generated more consistent offensive pressure than we had seen in recent weeks while outshooting the Jets, 36-33. But a pair of saves and a strong outing from reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, who finished with 33 saves, kept them from posting a higher total.

“I think we played a pretty good team game,” Panarin said. “Everybody tried hard, beat people. We chipped in pucks, worked for it, won the games and made a lot of shots too. It just happens sometimes. I can’t say we were the worse team tonight, but they won the game .”

The Blueshirts cleaned up some of the issues that have plagued them, especially when it came to breaking the puck out of their own zone and pushing forward, but Winnipeg was cleaner. And when the Rangers fumbled pucks or made bad decisions, the Jets pounced.

“We played a solid game,” Filip Chytil said. “We played hard. Finally, we had more shots on goal than the opposition. But they scored more goals than us and they took advantage of the odd-man rushes they had… We have to help our goalies more, because five or six goals (allowed) is still a lot.”

Mika Zibanejad’s expensive turnover

The most critical blunders came from the stick of Mika Zibanejad, who had a shot at looking like the Mika of old on Tuesday but still seems to press on at inopportune moments.

“I can’t speak for Mika and where he’s at,” Laviolette said when asked if he’s sensed frustration from Zibanejad. “I know we count on Mika. He’s an impact player for us. Not him, but sometimes when you push offensively to make things happen, things can go the other way.”

It started on Zibanejad’s very first shift when he tried to knock a card off the boards to Panarin, but the new linemates were clearly not on the same page.

Panarin hadn’t anticipated the puck, which trickled right to Josh Morrissey, who then slipped an easy feed to Mark Scheifele in front of the New York net.

“I thought we go out on the first shift and we go right away,” Laviolette said. “I thought we were on points and it just seemed like we make a mistake inside the game and it ends up costing us. It turns around quickly. There are a lot of isolated incidents out there where right now they are the top team in the league and they make you pay. They score a lot of goals, they did against us.

Will Cuylle answered for the Rangers by burying a Braden Schneider rebound later in the period to tie the game at 1-1, but the theme of chasing the Jets would continue throughout the night.

Gabe Vilardi put Winnipeg back on top, 2-1, with a beautiful power-play goal 8:58 into the second period. Alexis Lafrenière equalized minutes later with a PPG of his own – but before the period was over, another Zibanejad turnover came back to bite them.

This one came on a fumbled pass attempt after carrying the puck into the offensive zone, sparking a quick-strike Jets offense that came right back at the Rangers. Kyle Connor ended the two-on-one rush with a wrister that beat Igor Shesterkin on the short side to make it 3-2 Winnipeg with 3:57 left in the second.

Third to Zibanejad came to begin the final frame. Vilardi picked his pocket while No. 93 held the puck in the neutral zone, where the Jets turned the ensuing possession into Scheifele’s second goal of the game. That extended their lead to 4-2 with 18:52 remaining, and while Kaapo Kakko quickly got a goal back to pull the Rangers back within one, they couldn’t quite dig out of the final hole.

With 6:52 left, Vladislav Namestnikov made it 5-3 to dash the Rangers’ hopes of a comeback. Connor’s empty netter in the closing minute was the last straw.

“Whether it’s whether it’s puck decisions or whether it’s a little bit more responsible when we press in the offensive zone, there are definitely situations where we could have done things better,” said Laviolette, who was cautious with not directing any criticism at Zibanejad specifically. “Offensively, I still think we were on the attack. It’s one of those games where you hit – try to knock them off and create offense and sometimes you have to cover up and make sure you don’t come back and bleed the other way. And those incidents cost us.”

Some advantages, but several disadvantages

The Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko line was New York’s best, as it has been for much of the season.

They were the only ones among the four starting trios to finish positively in goals (2-0), shots (9-6) and high-danger scoring chances (3-0), according to Natural Stat Trick. As a line, they have outscored opponents 11-0 so far this season.

“They were good,” Laviolette said. “It was more of a simple play – more of a simple approach to the line where they got the puck behind the defense, they used our defenders, they were able to swing some pucks in from distance and they went until they were in the zone with scoring goals and helping to create, just by getting to the net on the spot-kicks.”

At the opposite end of that spectrum was the Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière line. They finished with a minus-four rating while being outshot, 9-2, in 8:40 of time on the ice together. Three of those goals were directly traced back to a Zibanejad turnover.

Laviolette subtly acknowledged those struggles by swapping out Zibanejad for Vincent Trocheck in the third period, saying, “It was just to give it a different look.”

The thing is, it’s getting harder to justify not going back to that arrangement on a more permanent basis. Zibanejad is stuck at three five-on-five points (one goal and two assists) through 14 games, with Panarin and Lafrenière also being pulled. They were the Rangers’ two leading scorers when that line was formed on Nov. 2, but have combined for just three 5v5 points in four games since.

It was a similarly rough performance for the K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba defensive pairing, who were minus-three on Tuesday and are now minus-seven in their last four games together.

They’ve been on the ice for seven of the 11 goals the Rangers have allowed at 5-on-5 in that span and are looking increasingly disjointed. Miller in particular has stalled after a fairly promising start to the season while playing alongside Adam Fox.

“It’s not always just a reflection on them,” Laviolette said when asked about the lopsided margins before the game. “The defense is a five-man unit. There’s a lot of things that could have happened before the puck went in the net. Right now, I’m just trying to give it some time and let it settle, and then we’ll” will assess.”

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the one New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more about his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.