Wendell Cruz-Imagn ImagesA historic night that began with celebration due to Mika Zibanejad playing in his 1000th NHL game, ended historically for a different reason as the New York Rangers recorded a total of 9 shots in their 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Monday night, tying a single-game franchise low from Dec. 11, 1955.
As of late 2025, about five percent of all players in NHL history had played 1,000 games, so Zibanejad joined some elite company on Monday night, which was a cause for celebration.
“You’re in elite company when you get into that range,” Mike Sullivan said. “I think it speaks to first and foremost, his passion for the game, his love of the game and wanting to play, continue to do his best. I think it speaks to his elite level talent because the guys that tend to reach those milestones are elite players from a talent standpoint, but are more than that.
“They bring some of these other things that I’m talking about, the intangibles, his passion for the game, his willingness and his drive to do what it takes to keep his game at an elite level, his endurance and his durability through the course of season after season. All of those things add up to why he’s able to accomplish this milestone.”
Before the game, the Rangers honored Zibanejad, accompanied by his wife, Irma Zibanejad, daughter, Ella Zibanejad, and parents, Mehrdad Zibanejad and Ritva Zibanejad, as they joined him on the ice level during the special ceremony.
Mika was emotional watching the tribute video narrated by Irma, and also had a touch of Ella’s voice in it as well.
“Special,” Mika said of the tribute video. “Just hearing her voice and what she said, and even hearing ‘I love you’ from Ella in the middle of it — it was a cool experience.”
After the video was shown, Mika was gifted with a commemorative stick by J.T. Miller, Adam Fox, and Vincent Trocheck.
Throughout the ceremony, Mika was warmly embraced by the fans, getting showered with applause and chants.
“The presentation and ceremony was great,” Mika said. “I’m thankful for the organization to do so and giving my family a chance to be here too. It was special.”
The Rangers’ performance did not match the excitement level or energy of Mika’s ceremony.
Throughout the course of the contest, the Blueshirts struggled to generate any sort of offensive pressure. They failed to record a shot until there were 6:11 minutes left in the first period.
After 40 minutes of play, the Senators edged the Rangers 27-4 in shots, indicative of their complete level of dominance over the home team.
To make matters worse, the Rangers couldn’t stay out of the penalty box all night long, committing a total of six penalties, which Sullivan attributed blame to the team’s lack of rhythm.
The emotions and frustration were prevalent and strongly shown in the locker room and by Sullivan after the game.
At this point in the season, it's not about wins for the Rangers with the playoffs out of their reach. It’s about effort and showing signs of promise that they can take into the offseason and into next season.
"It's not that we didn't have a good night. We just got outcompeted,” Miller said. “That’s the hard part, the part where it’s hard to live with that stuff. You are looking inward at yourself, you are just not doing enough. Like to a man, we just don’t do enough.”
The situation the Blueshirts find themselves in is glaringly obvious to all parties involved from the management, to the coaches, to the players, to the fans.
These remaining games of the 2025-26 campaign are essentially meaningless, and the Rangers are more or less just playing for pride.
However, the team’s current circumstances don’t make the embarrassment of losses of this magnitude any better.
“We have an obligation to one another. We have an obligation to the logo that you wear on your sweater, that we've got to bring a certain level of commitment each and every day, and that's our responsibility that we all have, and we have to take that seriously,” Sullivan emphasized.
“That's a privilege. We have to take that seriously regardless of what our circumstance is. I'll acknowledge that our circumstances are difficult, but I don’t think there’s any room for rationalizing. I just think we've got to play a game with more commitment.”
The emotions of the hardships of this year came pouring out from the two de facto leaders of this team, Miller and Sullivan.
The inconsistent play, failure to live up to expectations, the letter outlining the retooling of the roster, all of the trades, and the constant boos from the fans have defeated the Rangers, and with 11 games remaining this season, there’s very little hope to grasp onto.
“It’s not easy when you have gone through what the group has gone through,” Sullivan said. “I mean let’s call it what it is, it’s been a tough year.”