Projected lineup: Rangers need power play to emerge as playoff weapon

Lohud

01 January 0001

Projected lineup: Rangers need power play to emerge as playoff weapon

RALEIGH - How much better can the New York Rangers' power play become?

They believe there is significant room for growth, despite currently ranking ninth in the NHL with a 23% conversion rate. And with the playoffs less than a month away, the time to unlock their vast potential is now.

"Special teams are huge in the playoffs, there's no doubt," head coach Gerard Gallant said following Wednesday's practice at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown. "We’ve got some time to work with it and get it (right). I mean, it’s still pretty good. Twenty-three percent is not that bad. But overall, we just want to get a little fresher look and try some different units. Hopefully, they'll work."

A humming power play can often determine winners and losers in tense postseason moments. Whichever team converts more of their opportunities into goals often wins the series.

The Rangers benefitted from that last year when they posted a 32.1% success rate in the playoffs − second only to the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche − after ranking fourth in the league at 25.2% during the regular season. That's not a stark difference from where they sit currently, but the overall feel is not the same.

They've been streaky, with recent results taking a turn in the wrong direction. The Blueshirts are 3-for-17 on the PP in their last six games − and while they still went 4-1-1 in that span, the focus at Wednesday's practice was improving in that critical area.

"Just trying to get them going a little bit," Gallant said. "Get it back to where it should be. We’ve got to get more chances. We’ve got to create more. And we played against one of the best PKs in the league (Tuesday) night (against the Carolina Hurricanes), so they did a good job. But we’re just a little stale."

The coach responded to the previous slump by attempting to evenly distribute the Rangers' skill between the two units and giving them fairly equal ice time. That notably meant separating Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, who had been staples together on the top unit for nearly four seasons.

They've combined for 206 power-play points dating back to 2019-20, with Panarin luring defenses and creating lanes to thread countless passes that setup Zibanejad for his vaunted one-timer.

"When it was successful and going really well earlier in the year, Mika was in his spot (on the left circle) and Bread was coming down the offside," Gallant said.

He's decided to get the band back together, reuniting Panarin, Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox, who have made up four-fifths of a successful top unit for the better part of four years.

Loading up their most proven PP performers with the hope of creating a dominant group for the weeks (and, they hope, months) ahead seems wise, but who fits best as the fifth member?

Gallant is betting on Patrick Kane.

"There's five pretty skilled, high-end players on that power play right now," the coach said. "And then you got a few other guys on the other unit that are pretty good, too. So, there's talent there. We’ve just got to find the right chemistry."

Kane makes a lot of sense, with 400 career PP points on his résumé and a left-handed shot that provides balance next to righties in Fox, Panarin and Zibanejad. But where he'll line up considering the personnel isn't as obvious.

Under Gallant and assistant coach Mike Kelly, who runs the power play, the Rangers have operated with Fox at point, Kreider at net front and Panarin and Zibanejad on opposite circles. The fifth and final position is the bumper, which is nestled in the high slot area behind Kreider and below Fox.

That spot was previously occupied by Ryan Strome, who signed a five-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks last summer, and then Vincent Trocheck for the early portion of this season. But playing there requires a player who excels at fighting through traffic, hunting for rebounds and doing some of the grunt work.

The 5-foot-10, 177-pound Kane doesn't exactly meet that description. He's at his best when he has space to use his elite playmaking ability.

With that in mind, the Rangers are rolling out a formation that they haven't used much in the recent past. The bumper position is largely vacant, with Kane instead working down along the goal line to the right of the net. It creates more of a box-and-one look, with Kane and Panarin low and high on the right, Zibanejad on the left, Fox up top and Kreider as the lone skater in the middle.

"We're going to do different things with that," Gallant said. "It depends what day it is, what team you're playing. There’ll be different things. Sometimes you’ve got the guy in the bumper, sometimes you’ve got the guy right in the net front, sometimes I'll put them on the goal line. It just depends on who you play."

As Gallant notes, don't expect this arrangement to be stagnant.

A key will be cycling and creating enough movement to keep the defense guessing, with Kane and Panarin primary candidates to rove and search for passing lanes.

But above all else, Gallant wants to see them get aggressive with their shot selection − an issue that tends to plague the Rangers whenever they get into these PP funks.

"Sometimes, we pass too much," he said. "Sometimes we're not looking for the shot quick enough, and that's what happened. Once they get going, like they did in the past four or five games prior to last night, things will gel a lot better."

They have 11 regular-season games remaining to figure it out and turn the power play into a postseason weapon.