PITTSBURGH — Alain Vigneault interrupted his questioner.
“You know what, our power play, it’s a brand-new series,” the Rangers coach said before his team beat the Penguins, 3-2 in overtime, in Game 1 of their second-round series on Friday night at the CONSOL Energy Center. “We haven’t had one yet, so we’re going to be real good.”
Turns out the coach was wrong.
After finishing their seven-game first-round series with the Flyers by not getting a power-play goal in their final 21 attempts, the Rangers went 0-for-4 in this one, squandering 7:00 of man-advantage time.
“It’s the first time we’re seeing their penalty kill,” said Brad Richards, who got 4:56 of his 15:51 on the man-advantage. “We have to figure out what they’re doing and how we can be better.”
Against the Flyers, the Rangers’ power play scored three times in the first two games — including twice in the third period of Game 1, essentially winning them the game. Yet from there, things collapsed, and they are 3-for-33 now in this postseason.
It is eerily reminiscent of their 4-for-44 statistic from last season’s playoffs, which ended with a second-round ouster at the hands of the Bruins and the dismissal of coach John Tortorella, as well as assistant Mike Sullivan, the latter in charge of the power play.
“For us, right now, in our minds, our power play was a real good weapon for us during the year,” said Vigneault, whose team finished the regular-season 15th in the league (18.2 percent). “We might have had a real good start against Philly and it didn’t continue in the latter games, but that series is behind us. We’re focusing now on Pittsburgh, what they do when they kill, and we’re going to come up with a plan and try and go out there and execute.”
The Rangers were playing their third game in four nights, and by the time Game 3 of this series comes around on Monday at the Garden, they will have played five games in seven nights.
“We have to use that to our advantage,” Penguins coach Dan Byslma said. “We have to look at that and try to make them play as much hockey as they possibly can here in the next four days. And make it as hard as we possible can on them — make it a factor.”
Vigneault didn’t play anyone less than Dan Carcillo’s 10:02, and stuck to his regular-season motto of playing four lines and three defensive pairs.
“We pretty much played our whole bench,” Vigneault said. “Everyone had good energy.”
Carcillo remained in the lineup after coming in for Game 7 against Philly after sitting out the previous two. J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast were the healthy scratches up front.
Top-six forward Chris Kreider (left-hand surgery on March 28) took the ice late in the morning wearing a non-contact yellow jersey. He lightly stick-handled, but is unlikely to be ready until later in the series.