{"id":413764,"date":"2026-01-18T04:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/413764\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T04:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:26:19","slug":"rangers-zibanejad-and-sullivan-reach-career-milestones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/413764\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers’ Zibanejad and Sullivan reach career milestones"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad and coach Mike Sullivan achieved career milestones Saturday, one day after team president and general manager Chris Drury sent a letter<\/a> to fans expressing disappointment over how the season has gone.<\/p>\n

Zibanejad became the Rangers\u2019 all-time leader in power-play goals and tied the franchise record for career hat tricks in New York\u2019s 6-3 victory<\/a> over the Philadelphia Flyers. The victory was the 500th of Sullivan\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old Zibanejad scored<\/a> with a man advantage in the second period for his 117th power-play goal. He had shared the Rangers\u2019 record with Camille Henry and Chris Kreider, who had 116.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely special,\u201d Zibanejad said after the game. \u201cIt means I\u2019ve been given a chance to be here a long time, long enough to get close to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zibanejad\u2019s ninth hat trick<\/a> with the Rangers matched Bill Cook\u2019s franchise record.<\/p>\n

Sullivan praised Zibanejad for the example he has shown amid a trying season<\/a> for the Rangers, who snapped a five-game losing streak<\/a> Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really committed to trying to play the game the right way, the way we\u2019re trying to play,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI think he\u2019s personified that most of the year. We\u2019ve challenged him to use his size and his physicality, both offensively and defensively. I think he\u2019s really embraced that challenge. He has played extremely well for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers\u2019 latest challenge came Friday when Drury sent a letter<\/a> to fans saying that \u201cwe know and feel your disappointment with how the season has gone to this point.\u201d The letter indicated changes could be on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our position in the standings and injuries to key players this season, we must be honest and realistic about our situation,\u201d Drury wrote. \u201cWe are not going to stand pat \u2013 a shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool the team. This will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zibanejad acknowledged that there were \u201call kinds of feelings\u201d after the letter was sent out and said he liked the way the team responded. He said \u201cit\u2019s not an easy situation\u201d but added that this kind of win could provide a spark.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf changes are coming, then try to make the most of the time we have as a group, the group that we have right now,\u201d Zibanejad said.<\/p>\n

Sullivan had headed into his first season<\/a> with the Rangers owning 480 career wins after coaching the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>. He led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017 during his 10 years in Pittsburgh.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just grateful,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to coach in this league. It\u2019s the greatest league in the world, and it\u2019s an absolute privilege to be part of it in any capacity. To be a head coach for as long as I have at this point has been an incredible honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

This latest win was particularly special because of the circumstances leading up to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it speaks volumes for the character of the people in the room,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cThe last couple of days have been pretty emotional for the whole group. To respond with an effort like they did tonight. … I think is evidence that these guys are quality people, and they care a lot about each other and the Rangers.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/www.apnews.com\/NHL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad and coach Mike Sullivan achieved career milestones Saturday, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5111],"tags":[51918,46069,337,1542,5,160,1955,576,3328,7763,35,5190,5193,4,292,2139,562,56,36,43],"class_list":["post-413764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-rangers","tag-bill-cook","tag-camille-henry","tag-chris-drury","tag-chris-kreider","tag-hockey","tag-mika-zibanejad","tag-mike-sullivan","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkrangers","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-hockey","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-rangers","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115914210467006743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}