First, the numbers: the Rangers are 5-for-52 on the power play in 17 games since the March 5 trade deadline, with one goal on a five-on-three, and one of their five-on-fours scored into an empty net. That leaves three pure five-on-four goals in a month.
Which brings back memories of the way they were last spring, both heading into and during the playoffs, with scattered pictures appearing in the mind’s eye of a second-round five-game elimination after the Rangers went 4-for-44 in the tournament.
“At this time of year, you certainly need to be very sharp on the power play because the penalty-killing four-man units have been working together all year and are very difficult to beat,” Derek
Stepan said following Saturday night’s 3-2 defeat at the Garden to the Senators that prevented the Blueshirts from clinching a playoff spot.
“One bobble, one hesitation, one battle you don’t win, and that can be enough to throw you off. You have to focus on getting good looks and you have to outwork the penalty killers.”
When Stepan, who has two of the club’s five power-play goals since March 5, was asked if he believed the Rangers’ power play has been outworking the opposition’s penalty killers, the center paused before answering.
“I’m not quite sure,” he said. “That’s something I’d have to give some more thought to.”
The Blueshirts are one point shy of becoming the only team in the Eastern Conference other than the Penguins to have qualified for the playoffs eight times in the nine years since the hard cap was introduced in 2005-06. Either one point for the Rangers in their final three games, beginning with Tuesday’s match at the Garden against Carolina, or one defeat suffered by the Devils in their final four games, beginning with Monday’s contest at the Rock against Calgary, will do it.
But a power play operating at single-digit efficiency won’t do it in the playoffs; not for long, anyway. And a power play that cannot score in the third period of tight games is a useless appendage. The Blueshirts have had man-advantages in the third period of each of the last three games they have lost and have looked lost each time, failing to snap the puck either through seams or on net.
“We need to be more decisive and get more pucks through.”
They failed to get a shot in Calgary on March 28, down 4-3 in a game they lost by that score. They failed to get a shot in Colorado on Thursday, leading 2-1 in a game they lost 3-2 in a shootout.
They got one shot, a 25-footer from Rick Nash, trailing Ottawa 3-2 on Saturday before losing that one.
“There are games when our structure broke down and our entries were bad, but we corrected that [against Ottawa],” said Brad Richards, a staple on the point. “We just have to get back to pounding the puck.
“When we were having success, our shots on net were way up. We don’t have to start changing a lot of things. We need to be more decisive and get more pucks through.”
Richards does not have a five-on-four point since March 1, a drought of 18 games. Martin St. Louis has not been on the ice for a single five-on-four goal as a Ranger.
The power play, which was riding high at over 20 percent into late January, hasn’t been as effective since the coaching staff first removed net-presence and down-low puck-retriever Chris Kreider from the unit to make room for St. Louis. Now, of course, the injured Kreider isn’t an option.
In fact, winding things back a bit farther, the power play hasn’t been as good since on-again, off-again point man Michael Del Zotto went to Nashville for Kevin Klein on Jan. 22. Even-strength play has improved, but not the power play.
Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe not, but Del Zotto was on for a power-play goal once every 7:30 of ice time, the best such ratio of any Rangers point man. Richards has been on for one per 8:16;
Ryan McDonagh for one per 9:38; Dan Girardi, one per 11:50. John Moore, one per 10:20. Rafael Diaz has been on for one in 18:05.
“There’s no need for us to panic,” Stepan said. “This doesn’t feel like last year when we were on the power play. This isn’t like last year.”