NHL

Abysmal Rangers power play sinks to new depths

The Rangers’ power play has gotten so bad they’re now giving up goals.

In Wednesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Penguins in Game 4 of this second-round playoff series, the Rangers went 0-for-2 over 4:00 of man-advantage time, now making them goalless in their past 36 attempts. To add insult to injury, they gave up a short-handed goal to Brandon Sutter in the second period, which broke a 1-1 tie and turned the tide of the game toward Pittsburgh.

“It’s a tough one for the team, obviously,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who was beat on the play by a Brian Gibbons breakaway — the result of an awful Rick Nash turnover — but when Gibbons flubbed the puck at the crease, Sutter was there to bang it home.

“We’re looking to get that second goal — it’s such an important goal,” Lundqvist said. “It was a tough one.”

The Rangers’ power play is now 3-for-44 in the postseason, having not scored since Game 2 of their first-round series against the Flyers. Last postseason, under coaches John Tortorella and Mike Sullivan, the power play finished 4-for-44 in a five-game, second-round ouster by the Bruins.


After leading the team in shots in his first game of this postseason on Monday, Rangers defenseman Raphael Diaz stayed in for the second straight game in place of John Moore.

Diaz played 16:45 and didn’t register a shot, while 2:13 of his time came on the inept power play.

“Most of the goals in the NHL are scored like that — shoot the puck, hitting the pads or the shoulder or something like that, then the rebound is there,” Diaz said of his six shots on nine attempts in Game 3. “We have to battle for that rebound.”


The Penguins played the full final two periods without defenseman Brooks Orpik, who was playing his first game back after missing the past five with an undisclosed injury, and who suffered a separate injury late in the first period.


“Our defense had to do an unbelievable job,” said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, who got 30:05 out of Paul Martin and 27:56 out of Kris Letang. “Those five guys back there played a lot of minutes. They played a big part in that and they were outstanding.”


Dan Carcillo went back in on the Rangers’ fourth line, keeping Derek Dorsett out for the second straight game. Because of Chris Kreider’s return, J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast were also scratched.