The sequence that ended with Mika Zibanejad’s historic point started with what appeared to be a blown power-play opportunity. 

There were 16 seconds remaining in the Rangers’ man-advantage Monday night against the Sabres.

The faceoff, which Zibanejad won, occurred to the left of goalie Igor Shesterkin — not down at the other end.

But then the two-way center collected a pass from inside his blue line, veered toward the right boards as he sped down the ice and slid a pass to Artemi Panarin on the opposite side. 

When Panarin beat Buffalo goalie Devon Levi, the Rangers had knotted the score, 1-1, and both Zibanejad and Panarin had recorded their 90th points of the season on the same shot. 

“I think it’s awesome,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said Monday about the milestones. “Both of them had a real good year for us, obviously, and they get 90 points — it’s great. … Any time you got guys going like that and getting those amount of points, it’s great for our team.” 

Panarin had reached that milestone before, in 2019-20 and 2021-22, but Zibanejad became just the third Rangers center — after Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky — to reach that threshold in a season since 1982-83. 

His 39 goals and 51 assists have combined to set his new career-best for points, surpassing his 81 from last year, and continued Zibanejad’s steady growth as he has become one of the Rangers’ most indispensable players. 

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Messier reached the 90-point mark three times with the Rangers — in 1991-92 with 107 points, in 1992-92 (91) and in 1995-96 (99) — and Gretzky achieved that threshold in 1996-97 (97) and 1997-98 (90) after signing with the Rangers for the final three years of his NHL career. 

Zibanejad’s path was more gradual. He topped 50 points just once with the Senators, the team that drafted him and with which he played until his July 2016 trade to the Rangers.

But since 2018-19, when Zibanejad set a career best with 74 points, that number has gradually increased. 

First, it grew to 75 points in just 57 games in the condensed 2019-20 season.

Then, 50 points in 56 games the next year.

And last year, when he skated in 81 games, Zibanejad stretched his point total to 81, preceding his playoff contributions as the Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. 

That set the foundation for this campaign, in which there have been just 26 games without a Zibanejad point.

He won’t top 100 points this year, won’t explode for the numbers that Gretzky compiled in the prime of his career, but perhaps the multi-point outbursts will continue — and increase — next year. 

Zibanejad’s trend and his well-rounded contributions, both this season and specifically this past month, have built up to that point. 

The two-way center has recorded the fourth-most takeaways among Rangers forwards this season, with 35.

He has also recorded multiple points in 11 of the past 15 games, including three assists in a victory over the Lightning on Wednesday and two more against the Blue Jackets three days later. 

Early in the first period against Tampa Bay, with the Rangers on the power play, Zibanejad kept a sequence moving in the corner, even after Tampa Bay had nearly collected possession and started to clear.

It all ended with a power-play goal — and Zibanejad’s first point of the night. 

Zibanejad added two more assists in the third period, including one in which he guided the puck between his legs and almost scored a goal himself, though Chris Kreider ended up getting credit when he tapped the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy. 

“Mika’s a smart player, and he’s just getting into his own and he’s very confident, and we got a good hockey team,” Gallant said. “He knows he’s one of our big leaders, and he wants to get better and we all want to win a Stanley Cup someday. 

“So growing toward that, but he’s a key, key guy for us.”