Mika Zibanejad scores against Winnipeg Jets en route to loss

The New York Rangers improved performance against the Winnipeg Jets still unfortunately wasn't good enough in a 2-1 loss to the team with the most points in the NHL.

The Rangers (31-28-6) lost their fourth consecutive game (0-2-2) and remain ninth in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin was sadly bested by one of the other best goalies in the National Hockey League. Connor Hellebuyck simply outdueled Shesterkin; Hellebuyck finished with 21 saves and allowed one goal or less for the 20th time just this season. After this win the Jets have two more points than the Washington Capitals in the race for the Presidents Trophy.

Though, Blueshirt Mika Zibanejad cashed in on the Rangers’ first power play of the game, scoring his 15th. It was Zibanejad’s 106th power-play goal with New York, which tied Brian Leetch for fourth-most in franchise history.

Artemi Panarin had an assist on that goal to extend his point streak to six games — setting a new career high.

Defenseman Braden Schneider who logged 20:46 TOI said while the los wasn't ideal it's important for the Rangers to continue playing at this level moving forward in their schedule.

"To be quite honest, we got to keep playing how we played this game, in particular. I thought we played a really hard game, I thought we generated a lot," Schneider said. We just got to make sure we're not giving up those chances that [Shesterkin] and Quickie don't even have a chance to save. If we can build off this game and move forward to Minnesota and keep doing what we did tonight, just minimizing those chances, I think it's going to give us a good chance to get some more points."

For Winnipeg, Gabriel Vilardi scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period with Vladislav Namestnikov also scoreing and Cole Perfetti posting two assists to help the Jets get its third win in four games.

Another unfortunate yet key moment for the Rangers came at 3:11 in the second frame. Winnipeg's Morgan Barron crosschecked young fan-favorite Matt Rempe into Hellebuyck. Rempe then somehow sat for goaltender interference, with most fans saying the call was likely based on Rempe' tough-guy reputation.

"I didn't agree with [that call]. They're saying they want to protect the goaltenders, but I just didn't agree with it," New York Rangers Head Coach Peter Laviolette said.

“There’s no consolation at this point in the season,” Laviolette said about his team playing better than in the weekend losses to the Senators and Blue Jackets. “It’s frustrating for sure.”

Moving Forward

As a result of this latest loss the Blueshirts have their longest losing streak since losing four straight in regulation Dec. 22-30. The Rangers are now tied with Boston, two points behind Columbus for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.