Zibanejad Honored, As the Rangers Fall to the Senators

By Daniel Feuerstein | New York, NY | March 23rd, 2026

The Rangers returned to Madison Square Garden for the second of back-to-back games. They hosted the Ottawa Senators as they were looking for another game of growth and improvement for next season. The Rangers skated hard all game long, but unfortunately, they couldn’t get over the hump as they would allow the Senators to take advantage in the game, and they fell to the final score of two to one.

Mika Zibanejad Honored for 1,000 Games Played

Before the game started, the Rangers honored Mika Zibanejad as he was about to skate in his 1,000th career NHL Game. This game was fitting as the Ottawa Senators drafted Zibanejad, and the trade that sent Derrick Brassard to the Senators for Mika began a marvelous Rangers career. He skated toward the Zamboni doors as his Wife and daughter, along with his parents, were waiting for him to congratulate him. A video narrated by his wife discussed his career, then Captain J.T. Miller, Alternates Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck, presented him with a Silver Stick engraved with his milestone accomplishment.

Game Recap

The Senators scored on the power play as they were buzzing around the Rangers’ zone. Jordan Spence received the puck at the far point, moved a bit toward the middle, and then made a quick pass to Claude Giroux along the near boards. He saw Shane Pinto inside the near faceoff circle, to rip a quick shot and beat Igor Shesterkin at 6:30 of the first period. The Senators got their second goal of the game as Connor Mackey skated along the near boards to chase the puck in his own zone and clear it out. The puck was blocked by Lars Eller. He collected it and made a hard crossice pass to Warren Foegele as he slammed it home on the one time at 6:46 of the second period.

The Rangers did pull one back as they made a game of it. Matthew Robertson, along the far boards, made a chip pass off the boards towards Tye Kartye, and he was flying down the far side of the Senators’ zone. He glided down the lane, made a turn toward the net down low, and shoveled a pass across the crease to Connor Sheary as he redirected it past Jeff Reimer to finally get on the board at 7:03 of the third period.

The Rangers tried to tie the game up, but at the end of the final period, they couldn’t get it, and the Senators won the game. Another frustrating performance from the Rangers as they continue to drop points and not give the Rangers fans a good feeling at the end of the game. Once again, all of this is for the future and for next season, but you would like to have a feel-good game every once in a while.

Mike Sullivan’s comments

It’s disappointing because I feel like we’re not controlling what we can to set our team up for success. I just think we lacked— you know, anticipation on both sides of the puck. So defensively, if you don’t anticipate, our second guy was late to the puck battles. You know, and their second guy is quicker. We talk about that a lot. You know, just that second man quick to the puck battles when the puck gets stopped in the corners to win pucks. And we didn’t win pucks. And so we ended up spending a lot of time in our end zone for the first period, for sure. I thought the second period, the first seven minutes of the second period, we had a good push.

And then, for the next, I think, seven minutes of the next 13 minutes, we were in the penalty box. And so, the momentum that we gained in the first seven minutes of the second period, we lost because we went into the penalty box. You know, I thought we had a little bit of push in the third period. I don’t think we’re playing the game with enough pace. Um, to give ourselves a chance to win. You know, a lot of it is just my thinking, along the lines of knowing what you’re going to do with the puck before you get it, working to get available for your teammates so that we can change the point of attack.

Advance the puck up the ice. You know, I thought we struggled when we had opportunities to get zone time. We struggled getting pucks through from the blue line. We’ve talked, you know, I think I talked this morning about creating off the shot more. You know. Our last five games, for example, you know, we’re averaging 46. 6 shot attempts, you know. shots in the mid 20s. And that’s just not enough to generate the offense.

To get a consistent offense. And so we’ve got to simplify the game. But some of it’s just execution. You’ve got to get pucks through. You’ve got to get it by the shin pads. You’ve got to get your eyes up. You know, we’re having a hard time getting pucks through. We’re hitting shin pads, and they’re play killers. So they end up out of our end zone. And that makes it tough. You know, we talk a lot about creating off the shot. That next play is difficult to defend,” said Head Coach Mike Sullivan.

MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Skated in his 1,000th career NHL game and became the 22nd Swedish player in NHL history to achieve the milestone.

TYE KARTYE: Notched an assist on Conor Sheary’s goal and registered eight hits, tied for a career single-game high (last Oct. 31, 2024). He has tallied a point in back-to-back games (1G-1A), and since Mar. 7, his six assists and nine points are both tied for third on the Rangers.

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