Mika Zibanejad battling bigger demons than his on-ice Rangers struggles: ‘Hardest thing ever’

The game is played on a 200 feet by 85 feet surface of ice, but for Mika Zibanejad, the battle is contested almost entirely within his cerebrum.

“It’s not the first time, it’s not going to be the last time and obviously you don’t want to have those nights but [the important thing] is the way you respond to it, learn from it and move on,” the 31-year-old Swede told a wall of inquisitors following Wednesday’s practice in the aftermath of a particularly difficult game the previous night against Winnipeg. “I think in terms of that, I know I can play better.

“I can bury myself in negativity and make it even worse or try to learn from it and take the positives that’s been in the games. Maybe it’s hard to find for some people sometimes when you look at it and look at one thing, but my job is to go out there and play a good game tomorrow whether I had a great game the day before or a bad game.

“That doesn’t change. You’re expecting me and I’m expecting myself to play good every night,” said Zibanejad, whose team faces San Jose at the Garden on Thursday. “It’s not going to happen every night, even as much as I want to. Just play hard and have a short memory.”