Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: OTT 4, NYR 1 (3:28 video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: A battle of the titans at Madison Square Garden saw the 31st place Ottawa Senators skate circles around the Rangers and run them out of their own building (CBS)
• Former general manager and current team president Glen Sather is expected to step away from his duties with the team in the near future, as per Bob McKenzie (TSN)
• Larry Brooks details how Mika Zibanejad became the latest recipient of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award (NY Post)
• Rick Carpiniello offer$ hi$ thought$ on la$t night’$ pre-game ceremony and what it meant for Zibanejad to be honored (The Athletic)
• Dave Shapiro ponders what Pavel Buchnevich’s next contract will look like and why player and team should look to swing a long term deal (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Steve Paulus examines how the draft picks currently owed to New York can shake out as the playoffs draw closer (Blue Line Station)
• Paulus also explained why last night’s game against the Senators was a must-win game prior to the opening puck drop (Blue Line Station)
• Postgame Notes: Masterton trophy nominee Brendan Smith recorded the first shorthanded point of his career on Lias Andersson’s goal (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: David Quinn,(3:06) Kevin Shattenkirk,(1:13) and Mika Zibanejad (1:08) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Adam Gretz relays word that the NHL and its Players Association have agreed to continue the league’s asinine divisional playoff format for one more year, setting up for a much-needed change when the Seattle franchise begins play in 2020-21 (NBC Sports)
• Eric Engels notes that in spite of criticism from certain circles in the hockey community, forward Nate Thompson has been a solid acquisition for the Montreal Canadiens (Sportsnet)
• Posting numbers that haven’t been seen since the league was newly emerged from their year long lockout has made Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov the Hart Trophy favorite (TSN)
• Steven Ellis lists the players to record the most shots in a single season without finding the back of the net (The Hockey News)
• Cara Bahniuk saw that former Boston Bruins’ forward Craig Cunningham returned to the ice yesterday, posting a video of himself skating with a custom prosthetic leg with a blade on the bottom (Russian Machine Never Breaks)/