The game is played on a 200-foot by 85-foot ice surface, but for Mika Zibanejad, the battle is fought almost entirely in his brain.

“It’s not the first time, it won’t be the last time and obviously you don’t want to go through those nights but (the important thing) is how you react to it, learn from it and move on thing,” said the 31 “A 12-year-old Swede told a wall of inquisitors after Wednesday’s practice, following a particularly difficult match the day before against Winnipeg. “I think in that regard, I know I can play better.

“I can bury myself in negativity and make things worse or try to learn from it and take the positive out of games. It might be hard to find sometimes for some people 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 good game the day before or a bad match.

“That doesn’t change. You expect me and I expect me to play well every night,” said Zibanejad, whose team will face San Jose at the Garden on Thursday. “It won’t happen every night, as much as I want it to. Just play hard and have a short memory.