By Daniel Feuerstein | New York, NY | March 31st, 2026
The New York Rangers played their third game in this final seven-game homestand as they took on the New Jersey Devils again at The Garden. After a strong defensive game on an early Sunday Afternoon against the Florida Panthers, this Rangers team, with their new additions from Hartford in the AHL, has given them a spark as the hope will now see these players remaining on the team and continue to make an impact for next season. The Rangers found another way to win a game as they took out the Devils by a final score of four to one.
Mika Zibanejad Wins The Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award
The 38th annual Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award was given to a repeat winner, as Mika Zibanejad was the winner for the third time as a member of the New York Rangers, with his comeback season capturing the Power Play Goals Record, Skated in 1,000 NHL games as a Ranger, and the first hat trick in Winter Classic History. He skated toward the Zamboni entrance and met Steven McDonald’s wife, Patty Ann, his son Conor, and his family.
Game Recap
The Rangers opened the scoring, skating around the Devils’ zone. Will Borgin was down low along the far side and sent the puck back to the point toward Tye Kartye. He took the shot towards the net, but inside the high slot was Conor Sheary, and he found a way to redirect the puck past Jacob Markstrom at 8:14 of the first period. The Rangers kept going as they continued to play better hockey towards the back end of their schedule.
The Rangers went on the power play, as they were looking for a two-goal lead. Adam Fox received the puck at the near point and sent a hard pass down low to the far side to Alexis Lafreniere. Then a quick pass toward the front of the net, and J.T. Miller was in the right place to redirect the puck past Markstrom and scored at 13:39 of the first period on the power play. A crisp power play from the Rangers showed how much better they have been to this point.
The Devils did pull one back on their power play early in the second period, but the Rangers got their two-goal lead back with some strong passing. Noah Laba took the puck and skated all the way inside the Devils’ zone, but lost the puck at the near boards. Trailing the play was Braden Schneider, who picked it up and snapped a shot at the net. The rebound was loose as Jaroslav Chmelar skated hard towards the net, went around the defender, and backhanded the puck past Markstrom at 11:12 of the second period.
The Rangers scored another goal to cement the victory when they kept the puck inside the Devils’ zone and cycled a bit. Adam Fox once again got the puck at the far point and made a hard pass to Gabe Perreault inside the near faceoff circle. He held it for a second, then sent a quick pass to the streaking Mika Zibanerjad as he redirected the puck past Markstrom to get his tally at 3:49 of the third period. The rest of the game was all on Igor Shesterkin, who made several saves and cemented his name into Rangers lore.
Igor Shesterkin drops the gloves
Midway through the third period, the Devils tried to get back into the game. The puck came towards the net, and Shesterkin stopped it, but was run over by Paul Cotter. Three Rangers went towards Cotter and pinned him up at the end boards to show him they didn’t like what he did, and out of frustration, Shesterkin came out of his net to give a few punches as well. Jacob Markstrom skated all the way down to the Rangers’ zone and dropped the gloves to battle Shesterkin. Then Shesterkin dropped his gloves, and the fight was on. While both men tussled with each other, Shesterkin got the better of Markstrom and landed several shots to his head. When Igor was announced as the first star of the game, he went back out and did a little jab to excite the fans.
The last Goalie fight involving the Rangers was Dan Cloutier against Tommy Salo of the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum.
“He’s the foundation. I’ve said this to you guys so many times this year. I believe he’s the best goalie in the world. He does it every night. He just makes timely saves. But the thing that I’ve learned in just working with him this year is how competitive he is. You watch him, the way he practices, his practice habits. He’s a relentless worker. He reminds me a lot of Lundqvist when I was here. My previous time here as an assistant was always my observation of watching Hank. You know, he was a fierce competitor. His practice habits were off the charts. I watched the same thing with Chesty. He’s, I think, in a lot of ways, he personifies what we want to become,” said Sullivan
Mike Sullivan’s comments
“You know, we’re trying, you know, as I said to you guys. You know, on several different occasions here coming out of the break, we want to try to feel good about what’s going on here. And we have a responsibility to try to build something and something that we want to be proud of. I think it starts right now. And so, you know, we’re trying to… Hold ourselves accountable to a certain standard of how we go about our business every day, whether it’s our effort, our attitude, our level of enthusiasm, our will, to put the work in, because that stuff translates.
And so, I think, when we control those things, that doesn’t necessarily require talent. All the things that I just mentioned, but it’s hard to do every day. And I think, to the guy’s credit, they’re embracing that. And so, it’s translating where we’ve had some success in the win column lately, and I think winning feels good. I’m happy for the players because, as you guys know, we’ve been through a lot of ups and downs through the course of this year. These guys care a lot about what’s going on, so I’m happy for them. They can, you know, they can feel good about what’s going on right now, and we’re going to continue to try to build on,” said Mike Sullivan
SCORING HIGH: The Rangers have won three straight games and have extended their streak to four straight games, having scored three or more goals. The Blueshirts have scored 59 goals since Mar. 2, the most in the NHL in that span.
KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: Adam Fox and J.T. Miller both extended their point streaks to four-straight games (Fox: 1G-6A, Miller: 2G-4A), and Will Borgen and Conor Sheary both extended their point streaks to three-straight games (Borgen: 3A, Sheary: 2G-2A). Fox’s four-game point streak is tied for the second-longest active streak among all NHL blueliners.
ROCKIN’ ROOKIES: Since Mar. 2, Rangers rookies have scored 13 goals and have registered 32 points. This season, the Rangers’ 47 assists collected by rookies are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL, and their 74 points are tied for the sixth-most.
IGOR SHESTERKIN: Has helped the Rangers win back-to-back games and allowed one or fewer goals in a game for the 11th time this season, tied for the 11th-most in the league. Since the 2021-22 season, his 79 games having allowed one or fewer goals rank second among all NHL goaltenders.
ADAM FOX: Has tallied back-to-back multi-point games and notched his 104th career multi-point game as a Ranger. He sits one multi-point game away from tying James Patrick for third (105) among all Rangers defensemen in franchise history, and two multi-assist games away from tying Patrick for third (75).
MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Was named the winner of the 2025-26 Steven McDonald Extra Effort award this evening. He notched his sixth 70-point season as a Ranger, surpassing Mark Messier and Artemi Panarin for the fifth-most seasons in franchise history. He leads the Rangers this season in goals (33) and points (70), and since Jan. 2, his 21 goals are tied for the second-most in the NHL.
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