{"id":488445,"date":"2026-02-24T22:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488445\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:47:08","slug":"rangers-mika-zibanejad-still-not-really-over-loss-to-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488445\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad still ‘not really over’ loss to USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mika Zibanejad was the first of the three Rangers who played in the Winter Olympics to return to the team\u2019s practice facility, with J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck of Team USA still celebrating their rousing gold-medal victory<\/a> over Canada on Jack Hughes\u2019 overtime goal Sunday in Milan.<\/p>\n

Zibanejad actually scored a huge goal for Team Sweden<\/a> against the Americans in the quarterfinals to force OT \u2014 before Hughes\u2019 brother Quinn sent the Swedes home from the first Games with NHL players participating since Sochi in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cTough ending, obviously, still I\u2019m not really over it,\u201d Zibanejad said after Rangers practice Tuesday in Tarrytown. \u201cIt was an exciting game for people watching, but it still stings, tying it up late and then having a chance to win it in overtime and go through. So it\u2019s a tough one to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Zibanejad watched two of his fellow Blueshirt forwards \u2014 plus head coach Mike Sullivan and assistant David Quinn \u2014 don their gold medals, the first for the Americans in men\u2019s ice hockey since the Miracle on Ice in 1980.<\/p>\n

Miller, the Rangers captain, was all over social media in recent days, shown singing on a microphone and even crowd surfing at the U.S. team celebration Monday night at a Miami nightclub.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s enjoying it as he should. I would have probably done the same thing,\u201d Zibanejad said. \u201cI\u2019m happy for them. Happy that they got to experience that and seeing their joy and how happy they were.<\/p>\n

Mika Zibanejad #93 of Team Sweden and Jack Eichel #9 of Team United States compete for the puck during the Olympic quarterfinals on Feb. 18, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cA little jealous, not to be out there for that. \u2026 I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s easier to lose to them in the quarters and then they go through to the finals and win the whole thing, [because] at the same time, you feel like if you just win that game, you have a chance [to win gold].<\/p>\n

\u201cBut no, I think it was an unbelievable [gold medal] game and a fun one to watch, a lot of excitement, a lot of chances, and a good advertisement for hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rangers have been less than that this season, entering Thursday\u2019s restart game against the Flyers at MSG with the worst record in the Eastern Conference and likely facing additional trades before the March 6 deadline after leading scorer Artemi Panarin was shipped to the Kings shortly before the break.<\/p>\n

USA defenseman Quinn Hughes celebrates scoring the winning goal against Sweden in the Olympic quarterfinals on Feb. 18, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell the games mean more,\u201d Zibanejad said. \u201cI think being there, there are always different scenarios, but coming from here, having a bit of, I guess, a tough go, not winning a ton of games and then going there and you really notice how important every game is. \u2026 The intensity and the atmosphere around it was very cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think [coming back will be] a letdown. I think it\u2019s human nature not to have the same feeling. I\u2019m not a robot. It\u2019s human nature to understand it\u2019s a different emotion. But it doesn\u2019t take away from the fun of playing games. And obviously, we\u2019re gonna have a couple of guys coming back that are a lot happier than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old center added that he didn\u2019t attend any other Olympic events while in Italy, although he and his wife did take in a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Inter Milan for Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Despite ultimately falling short, Zibanejad said his first Olympic experience was \u201cso much fun\u201d and said it is \u201calways an honor\u201d to represent his homeland.<\/p>\n

Rangers stars Vincent Trocheck (l.) and J.T. Miller (c.) celebrate Team USA\u2019s gold medal with Jeremy Swayman (r.) at COTE Korean Steakhouse in Miami on Feb. 23, 2026. Seth Browarnik\/INSTARimages<\/p>\n

\u201cI think allowing yourself to feel kind of disappointed and feel all the emotions after a loss like that and at one point to still be proud to have had the opportunity and the ability to play in the Olympics and represent your country at the Olympics,\u201d Zibanejad said. \u201cIt\u2019s been 12 years since NHL players got the chance to do so, so definitely not taking anything for granted, and never know if it\u2019s the last chance or not, so I just think the more time that passes by, I think the easier it will be to look back at it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mika Zibanejad was the first of the three Rangers who played in the Winter Olympics to return to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[11558,4823,385,1082,99,58926,211565],"class_list":{"0":"post-488445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-mika-zibanejad","9":"tag-new-york-rangers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-olympics","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-winter-olympics","14":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}