After a complete no-show in the playoffs last season, the New York Rangers looked to revitalize their powerplay. With one big acquisition and a few tweaks, how are they fairing thus far?
The New York Rangers saw their power play’s dysfunction sink them early in the 2016-17 playoffs. It was ice cold, to the tune of a 7.7% efficiency, second to last in the field. While a better power play wouldn’t necessarily have saved the day, there were times where its inability to find a timely goal would haunt the Rangers.
The Rangers actually ended the 2016-17 regular season with their power play operating at a 20.2% efficiency. This landed them at tenth in the league and was also the highest mark in Alain Vigneault’s tenure as head coach.
In the offseason, the Rangers acquired their next candidate to ‘fix’ the power play, Kevin Shattenkirk. Add in a full year of Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich on the top unit, and the Rangers power play looked poised to wreak some havoc.
The power play has run hot and cold so far in the beginning of this season but as of this writing, are clicking at a 24.2% clip (6th in NHL).
Let’s take a deeper dive into what’s different and has been working well compared to last season.
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2016-17: Playoff Power Outage
Let’s take a look at the Rangers’ power play during the pivotal Game SIx against the Ottawa Senators. The clip below comes at the tail end of the Rangers’ extended advantage due to a double minor to Derick Brassard.
We start with Kevin Hayes in possession along the wall. Being on his forehand side, he doesn’t have many options at this particular moment. He could put the puck on net, with Rick Nash standing in front, but Nash isn’t obscuring Craig Anderson’s vision. There is also no one in the slot for a shot.
He could bank it off the backboards and out to noted power play specialist Nick Holden or dump it off to the point. He does the latter and Brady Skjei puts the puck on net immediately. However, he is practically standing on the blue line and the shot skips off of Jean-Gabriel Pageau and into the corner.
Holden does a good job here, he quickly cycles the puck to his only viable option, Hayes. Hayes makes a quick decision to dish the puck back to a charging Skjei. He once again unloads, this time from prime position in the high slot.
However, Nash had vacated the front of the net in anticipation of assisting Holden to retrieve the puck. J.T. Miller fails to adjust and fill Nash’s spot in front of the net. Although Skjei has a hard shot and gets it on net quickly, Anderson is able to see it the whole way. Therefore, he simply swallows it and allows no follow-up chances.
This is an instance where shooting at every possible opportunity isn’t necessarily a good thing. Skjei wasted no time in getting the puck off his stick once he was teed up. However, he did not have a good lane to shoot in on the first attempt. On the second, he didn’t elevate it enough and there was no net-front presence.
When it was at its worst, the issues that plagued the power play were its inability to set up, lack of movement, lack of a screen, and lack of decisiveness. Bringing in Shattenkirk was mean to address most and/or all of those deficiencies.
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2017-18: Borderline elite, when hot
The power play has been humming lately but it’s been hot and cold this season. It started hot but has looked downright awful at times. The power play was 0-6 against the Sharks not too long ago (despite having good looks) and the team continues to look dreadful in 5-on-3 situations. Conversely, the power play has saved the Rangers’ bacon on several occasions.
The biggest problem appears to be the inability to set up the power play in the first place. However, once it is established and gets to work, it looks pretty much as advertised.
The above clip came from the team’s second game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 7th. The power play had already scored once in the game, with Shattenkirk netting his first as a Ranger.
The clip starts just as Kreider is rounding the net. However, it omits where the Rangers lost the faceoff, had to regroup and rushed the puck in all by himself. For a team where entries have been a problem, this seems like an effective strategy (when not being stood up at the blue line).
Kreider getting the puck deep with possession allows the rest of the first unit to get into place. Off-screen, Shattenkirk takes up his place at the point while Zibanejad settles into the Ovechkin spot in the left circle. Zuccarello reads the play and goes to the net, where Kreider usually resides, while Buchnevich heads to the right circle.
Having no good outlet yet, Kreider continues back up the boards and feeds the puck to Shattenkirk who is moving along the blue line to receive the pass. The players down low continue to rotate, adjusting to Kreider. Zuccarello heads to the right circle in Kreider’s wake while Buchnevich goes to the net.
This is the rotation lacking in the earlier clip. By the time Shattenkirk has the puck, albeit, without a shooting lane yet, Buchnevich is already in position and screening Frederik Andersen.
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However, instead of ripping the puck immediately, Shattenkirk realizes he doesn’t have a shooting lane and moves to the center point. The players stay in motion: Kreider makes a beeline to his assigned place in front of the net and Zuccarello completes his rotation to the right circle.
While Shattenkirk briefly (not extendedly) plays catch with Zuccarello, Kreider establishes himself in front of the net. Meanwhile, Buchnevich rotates into the slot.
Walking the blue line, Shattenkirk is able to draw a defender towards himself before quickly dishing the puck to Zibanejad. He now has more than enough time and space thanks to Shattenkirk.
At this point, Zibanejad has two options, dish the puck to Buchnevich (whose stick is already cocked) in the slot, or take the shot himself. With a full force Kreider screen on Andersen, Zibanejad rips home a shot that the goalie never sees.
Looking down the list, this goal checks off all the boxes:
- The unit enters the zone cleanly and establishes their prescribed setup
- The players stay in motion and rotate to areas where others have vacated to keep that setup intact
- The players make quick decisions with the puck, not forcing plays or taking shots just to shoot
With a good screen in front, the quarterback puts the puck on the team’s hottest scorer’s stick. He is in a prime scoring location with plenty of room and time to operate. Zibanejad makes no mistake and breathes life into the team.
Next: Looking into the Rangers' home ice struggles
One of the few bright spots of the season is that the power play has looked absolutely lethal at its best. It should be no coincidence that it is also one of the few constants as far as lineup composition is concerned. Zibanejad and Shattenkirk, in particular, have been thriving.
The power play has a few kinks to iron out but once they are, it will mark the dawn of new Rangers power play era.