Exclusive | Mika Zibanejad not thrilled with reduced Rangers minutes as Peter Laviolette tries to fulfill preseason pledge

WASHINGTON — There has been a steady drip, drip, drip in the ice time awarded to Mika Zibanejad’s and No.93’s line and the Swede doesn’t have to look at the final scoresheet to recognize that his shifts are somewhat farther and fewer between.“You can feel it on the bench,” Zibanejad told The Post following the morning skate in advance of Tuesday’s match here against the Caps.

“I was averaging 20-plus minutes a few years ago, and I felt really good with that because you can find a better rhythm.“Missing those extra two or three minutes, whatever it might be, you can try and create and feel like it’s going to come.But it is what it is.”Zibanejad’s average ice time going has dropped from a career-high 21:38 in 2019-20 to his current 18:15 per following Saturday night’s match against Anaheim in which the center’s 15:07 represented his fifth-lowest allotment over the last seven seasons.It is theoretically possible that reducing the 31-year-old’s minutes over the course of the 82-game marathon could produce residual benefits by keeping him fresher for the playoffs, where Zibanejad inevitably is matched against more physical opponents.No.

93, however, did not necessarily embrace the theory.“I don’t think anyone wants to play less, honestly,” Zibanejad said.Head coach Peter Laviolette said that he is striving to fulfill a pledge he made during camp to spread ice time wealth beyond the top six so that more players are engaged.That doesn’t completely explain why the Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Reilly Smith unit has gotten less time at five-on-five than the Will Cuylle-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko line six time over the first eight matches, but raw numbers do fill in the blanks.For the Chytil line has combined for eight goals while allowing none, scoring at a 6.03 clip per 60:00 with an expected goal ratio of 65.99 pct.The Zibanejad unit has been on for three goals scored and three against, scoring at 2.52 goals per 60:00 with an xGF of 44.08.�...