NEW YORK — Mika Zibanejad was well aware that he had 39 goals on the season heading into Monday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
But the Rangers’ No. 1 center insisted wasn’t stressing out about trying to get to 40.
“It means a round number,’’ Zibanejad said with a laugh when asked the significance of getting to 40 goals.
“I hit the post last year, with the empty net, (shooting) for 30,’’ he said, with another laugh. “The situation is what it is, and you try not to focus on it too much, because I think that kind of might take you out of your instincts and how you usually play.
“Playing with the guys I'm playing with, I know I'm going to get my looks, and I've just got to just make sure that I try to take advantage of them.’’
The Stockholm, Sweden, native did not get his 40th goal Monday, as the Rangers lost in a shootout, 3-2 to the Sabres. Zibanejad had the second attempt in the shootout, but lost control of the puck. In the end, Casey Mittelstadt scored in the fifth round of the tiebreaker and Kaapo Kakko missed, and the Rangers lost.
They at least seemed to escape injury when, with the Rangers killing a penalty in the overtime for having too many men on the ice, defenseman Ryan Lindgren was hit in the face while blocking a shot. He was forced to leave the ice with 2:24 left in the overtime, but did return to the bench to watch the shootout.
One game remains in the season, Thursday at the Garden against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With the point earned, the Rangers pulled within one of idle New Jersey for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils play Buffalo Tuesday in Newark.
Zibanejad, who turns 30 on April 18, has scored 40 goals once before, in the COVID-19-shortened season of 2019-20, when he had 41 in 57 games. If he gets 40 again this season, he would be the fourth Ranger to record multiple 40-goal seasons, joining Jean Ratelle, who did so three times, Mike Gartner and Marian Gaborik, who each did it twice. The historical significance of that isn’t that meaningful to him right now, though, he said.
“It’ll probably be more meaningful when I'm done, and I look back at it and can reminisce about it,’’ he said.
Zibanejad assisted on the first of Panarin’s two goals, giving him 51 on the season. He is one of three Rangers to have 50 or more assists, Panarin (who has 63) and Adam Fox (59) being the others.
Zibanejad is also perhaps the Rangers’ top defensive forward, who usually matches up against the opposing team’s No. 1 center in five-on-five situations, and generally plays on the first forward pair – usually with longtime linemate Chris Kreider – on the penalty kill.
“I knew he was a good hockey player, but I didn't know how good he was on the defensive side of the puck,’’ said coach Gerard Gallant, who has been touting Zibanejad as a candidate for the Selke Trophy, as the league’s top defensive forward, for more than a year now. “I mean, you know he can score goals and has talent, but you don't appreciate a guy like that until you're either coaching against him for a lot of games, or you see him, like we've seen him, in the last year-and-a-half. Hell of a two-way player.’’
He’s no checking center, though. According to the Rangers, he’s the fourth player in the past 25 years to record 80-plus points in consecutive seasons for the club (he had 81 last year) and he and Panarin are the third pair of Rangers teammates to both score 80-plus in consecutive seasons, joining Rod Gilbert and Steve Vickers (1974-5 and ’75-76) and Gilbert and Jean Ratelle (1971-72 and ’72-73).
