The Rangers’ power play has grown stale, so head coach Peter Laviolette freshened it up with some significant personnel changes.
Considering the fact the top unit, which has largely remained intact this season, is on an 0-for-14 skid in the last six games, Laviolette opted to try out a more balanced approach to his two power-play groups.
One unit featured Adam Fox, Blake Wheeler, Chris Kreider, Jonny Brodzinski and Mika Zibanejad, while the other was made up of Erik Gustafsson, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko.
Brodzinski was in the bumper spot for the first group and Trocheck for the second group.
“Obviously, it’s not at the level it was at the beginning of the year,” Laviolette said of the reasoning behind the changes. “I understand we need to make plays out there, but we also need to bring pucks to the net and more pucks to the net, try and find more traffic and more action at the net. You do that by moving it around, but we also need that attack that’s coming downhill. We just wanted to look at it today.”
Even though the Rangers power play hasn’t been operating at the level it was to start the season, the club is still ranked fifth in the NHL in power-play percentage at 26.1.
They trail only the Oilers (26.4), the Maple Leafs (26.6), the Hurricanes (27.7) and the Lightning (30.7).
After an 0-for-3 showing against the Blackhawks in the Rangers’ 4-3 overtime win on Friday, Zibanejad noted that he thinks they are currently overthinking with the man-advantage, which has led to overdoing and overcompensating for their struggles.
Laviolette said if they do decide to deploy the new units in the next game, it sets the two groups up to push each other.
“I think we’re just looking for a balance inside of the positions,” Laviolette said of using the Zibanejad line and the Trocheck line on separate units. “It worked out that way. But we’re looking for a balance inside of the positions on what we’re trying to do, trying to get the hands the way you want or maybe there are some things inside of their line that you look at and you say, ‘Well, there’s a lot of chemistry when they do this.’ Maybe that can come to the power play, as well.”
Tyler Pitlick skated as the extra during practice on Sunday, indicating the 32-year-old forward could be a healthy scratch when the Flames come to town on Monday at the Garden. Adam Edstrom skated in his place on the right wing of the fourth line next to Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow.
