Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks

NHL

Mika Zibanejad has kept the magic alive and well under Gerard Gallant

RALEIGH, N.C. — This is a tale that goes back to fairly early in the season when the Rangers were trying to establish themselves under incoming head coach Gerard Gallant. The record was 10-4-3 and achieved largely on the singular brilliance of Igor Shesterkin when the Sabres visited the Garden on Nov. 21.

It was 4-4 in the final half-minute when Mika Zibanejad carried the puck through the neutral zone and was upended at the center line by a trip that was not called. Play continued into the Buffalo end, a five-man scrum developed along the rear boards and three passes later, Ryan Lindgren scored with 0.4 seconds on the clock to deliver a 5-4 victory.

While the Garden erupted, so did Zibanejad, screaming at referees Jon McIsaac and Dan O’Rourke. When he went back to the bench, Zibanejad kept screaming at them. When the game had ended, Zibanejad was screaming at them.

And Gallant was screaming at Zibanejad in plain sight, right on the bench.

You don’t see something like that every day.

“He was yelling at the ref, he thought there should have been a penalty in the neutral zone,” Gallant said after the match. “I told Mika, ‘There are 0.4 seconds left, the game’s over, leave the referee alone.”

Again. This was six weeks into Gallant’s tenure. The coach-player dynamic was still developing. And here was the coach loudly chastising one of his marquee players, all of it caught by the MSG cameras.

Zibanejad is a proud man. At the time, coming off a season compromised by COVID and waning chemistry with then-head coach David Quinn, No. 93 was seeking to reclaim his status in the league’s upper echelon. And he was being dressed down by the new sheriff in town.

I wondered how Zibanejad reacted to it, if he and Gallant had met to discuss it, and whether the incident had any impact at all on their relationship. I waited to ask him until we could speak one-on-one in January. I found his answer to be revealing.

“It was literally a two-minute conversation right after the game ended. I was kind of fired up. It was an outburst at the ref,” Zibanejad said. “Did it come out at the right time or did I have to do it? No, definitely not, but you don’t see me do that very often.

Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant laughs alongside Rangers center Barclay Goodrow, center, and Mika Zibanejad, right, during their teams game against the Red Wings in the third period at Madison Square Garden on April 16, 2022.
Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant laughs alongside Rangers center Barclay Goodrow, center, and Mika Zibanejad, right. Jason Szenes/New York Post

“And that’s what I told [Gallant]. We laughed it off. It was fine. It was nothing really, just the heat of the moment, but to be honest with you, I actually didn’t mind that he had done that. And I think he took it pretty well when I didn’t agree with him.

“It was nothing. We laughed it off after 10 seconds. It never came up again.”

Another coach might have taken it personally. A different interaction may have had a counterproductive effect on Zibanejad, who by the way had scored only four goals in the club’s first 18 games. Instead, Zibanejad took off and did reassert himself as a marquee center in the NHL playing for Gallant.

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And while I am not proclaiming there is a linked cause-and-effect, I do believe that the dynamic between the coach and his players makes up a significant part of the reason the Rangers are greater than the sum of their parts and are about to open the second round here on Wednesday against the imposing ’Canes.

The Zibanejad-Chris Kreider-Frank Vatrano unit is likely to draw Carolina’s Jordan Staal-centered checking line in the first two games. That’s how Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour matched against No. 93 at home during the regular season. Back at the Garden, however, Gallant will likely go power against power as he did during the year when he sent Zibanejad on against Sebastian Aho.

Zibanejad was acquired by the Rangers from Ottawa in July 2016 in the first legitimate retool move of general manager Jeff Gorton’s administration following the five-game, first-round dismissal by Pittsburgh. The Blueshirts sent an important piece away in Derick Brassard, who had led the team in aggregate playoff scoring (18-26-44 in 59 games) in his four runs in New York.

Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) celebrates his game-tying goal in the third period in Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, May 15, 2022.
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad celebrates his game-tying goal in the third period of Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Penguins. Corey Sipkin/New York Post

He was Big Game Brass and Zibanejad was aware of that as the Blueshirts approached the 2017 playoffs.

“Of course I am aware of what he did in the playoffs,” the then 24-year-old told me. “But they didn’t bring me here to be the next Brass.”

Well…

Zibanejad led the Blueshirts in playoff scoring in 2017 with nine points (2-7) in 12 games. He leads the Blueshirts in playoff scoring this year with 11 points (3-8) in seven games that includes seven points (3-4) in the final two contests against the Penguins.

Kinda like he’s Big Game Mika, wouldn’t you agree?