Folks have been clamoring for Peter Laviolette to meaningfully reduce Mika Zibanejad’s minutes and that is what the Rangers head coach has done over the last week.
The problem, though, is while No. 93 has received the fourth-most five-on-five ice time in three of the team’s last four games and the third-most in Sunday’s empty-net abetted 3-1 Garden defeat to the Hurricanes, not one of his teammates has really rushed to fill the breach.
Having gone 4-12 over the last 16 games and at least five points off the conference’s second wild-card spot pending the outcomes of games involving the Senators and Lightning, this no longer is about punishing Zibanejad or sending a message to the 31-year-old Swede, if it ever was.
At this point, it is about rehabilitating Zibanejad to the greatest extent possible. At this point, it is about finding someone to replicate Zibanejad’s past production. At this point it is finding the individual who can rise above the morass.
