The Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad reunion on the Madison Square Garden ice will have to wait.
Zibanejad will not play against the Ducks Monday night because he missed a team meeting in the morning, Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan revealed after the team skated in Tarrytown.
“Mika and I had a conversation about it,” Sullivan said. “There are logistical challenges this city presents sometimes, but having said that, I think Mika understands the importance of the rules that we all expect of one another. This is something that, I think, from his standpoint, obviously, he feels terribly. The one thing about Mika is he’s an honest person. He’s a great human being. He takes responsibility for it. It’s certainly not something that we would like to happen.
“But having said that, we believe strongly in the process that we have in place. The process that we have I think is important for everyone to understand what the expectations are. Mika understands that as a leader of the team.”
Coincidentally falling on the same day as Kreider’s first game against his former team since he was traded to Anaheim this past offseason, the ex-Blueshirt won’t get to square off against his best friend and the best man in his wedding.
As a result, the Rangers will be without one of their top forwards as they take on the No. 2 team in the Pacific Division.
Zibanejad has appeared in all 33 games up until this point, scoring a team-leading 11 goals and dishing 14 assists. Since appearing in all 56 games of the truncated 2020-21 campaign, the Swede missed only two games in each of the following four seasons.
Without Zibanejad, the Rangers activated Matt Rempe off long-term injured reserve. Sullivan called Rempe a game-time decision, but all signs point to the 6-foot-9 forward drawing back into the lineup since he suffered a hand injury on Oct. 23.
