While facing the Hurricanes’ NHL-leading penalty-kill units, the Rangers swung and missed on four power-play opportunities in their 4-2 loss Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers combined for just four shots on goal with the man-advantage as Carolina made it difficult to enter its zone each time. The power play has now gone 2-for-16 over the last six games, marking one of its tougher stretches of the season.
While the top unit of Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad hasn’t been as cohesive lately, it seems as though opponents are beginning to figure out what makes the Rangers power play tick and playing it differently.
“The power play is just disjointed,” said Kreider, who joined the Rangers’ 50-goal club in the third period of the loss. “The timing was off, the speed was off. They’ve got a very good penalty kill, but at the same time, we have to find a way to get in the zone. We’ve been pretty good all year against penalty kills that pressure. If anything, we have trouble when a kill sits back a little bit because then it forces us to manufacture our own speed and manipulate the kill.
Chris Kreider, who scored his 50th goal in the Rangers’ 4-2 loss to the Hurricanes, said the team’s power-play unit has been “disjointed” of late. Corey Sipkin
“I think we were OK when we got in the zone, but at the same time, we have to get in the zone and set up.”
After two power plays in the first period, the Rangers earned the man-advantage once in both of the last two frames. On the other hand, the Rangers’ penalty kill fended off the Canes’ two man-advantage opportunities and was perfect for a sixth straight game.
“It’s not too often that you say our power play wasn’t as smooth as it usually is,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “The break-ins weren’t really smooth tonight and give credit to the first PK in the league, they’re really good. We just didn’t look as confident as usual, we still had a couple of good looks, but it’s got to be better. They know that and they’ll be frustrated with that.”
Goalie Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 21 saves in his 11th loss of the season, faced the Hurricanes for the first time in 2021-22 and first time since the third and final game of Carolina’s sweep of the Rangers in the 2020 bubble playoffs.
After Shesterkin made the initial save on a Hurricanes’ two-on-one rush in the second, Carolina’s top-line winger Andrei Svechnikov stayed with the play and banked the puck in off the star netminder’s skate from behind the goal line to tie the game 1-1.
After a scoreless first period, the Rangers struck first when Zibanejad carried the puck deep into the zone before sending a backhanded feed to K’Andre Miller in front for a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the middle frame. It was Miller’s seventh goal of the season.
Filip Chytil was scratched for a second straight game with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Gallant said Chytil is close to returning to the lineup, but the Rangers probably want to be cautious.
The Rangers venture to Philadelphia on Wednesday for the second night of a back-to-back. It will be their 13th back-to-back set of the season. Prior to their games with the Hurricanes and Flyers, the Rangers were 6-5-1 in the first half and 7-4-1 in the second of such matchups.
