New York Rangers: How 5-on-5 play has impacted the penalty kill
The New York Rangers have had a drastic turn around since their horrendous start. Over the past 10 games, the Rangers have pulled off eight wins to only two losses. One of the major improvements has been the team’s overall defensive effort; as such, the improved five on five play has helped out the penalty kill.
*Editor’s note: This post was written before Tuesday’s game.
The New York Rangers had a terrible start to the 2017-2018 season. At the end of October, the Rangers were a meager 3-7-2. In those early goings, the team just had too many problems to overcome.
The offense was being held up by only one or two players scoring. The defense was like a sieve, and neither goaltender was playing to their normal standard. However, ever since those early struggles, the Rangers have been on a tear.
Starting with a game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Rangers went on a six-game win streak. The streak was snapped with two straight losses, but the team has rebounded with three straight wins. While most of the Rangers’ game has improved, the defense and penalty kill deserves some extra praise.
One of the early memories of this season is the Rangers giving up eight goals to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Since then, the most goals the Rangers have given up in a game is a six spot to the Chicago Blackhawks which led to a disappointing loss that ended the team’s six-game winning streak. Since then, the Rangers’ 5-on-5 play has gotten increasingly better and so has the penalty kill.
The 5-on-5 play
The Rangers were bad early in the year. Simply put, they were bad in almost every aspect of the game. However, they have gotten much better as the year has gone on.
The forwards have gotten better in front of both nets. The defensemen have gotten better at keeping the net front clear and the puck to the outside. One of the main reasons for this recent development is the newfound stability in the lines and pairings.
Early in the season, head coach Alain Vigneault could not keep a line or pairing together to save his life. Somehow players like young standout Pavel Buchnevich and marquee acquisition Kevin Shattenkirk ended up on the lowest level of their respective groupings. During this recent streak, Vigneault managed to maintain lines and pairings that have been working.
While the team has been passing the eye test with almost flying colors, the team is still suffering under the radar. When it comes to the team’s Corsi For percentage, the Rangers rank 23rd in the NHL.
While Corsi only takes possession into account, PDO, another advanced analytic, combines shooting and save percentage to account for luck. The Rangers rank around the middle of the pack (17th) with a PDO of 100.1, minimally over the benchmark of 100.
These low rankings can be attributed to the slow start to the season, but there are a few other things that could have affected them. Alain Vigneault has been known to make questionable lineup decisions and this season has been no different.
For the entirety of the Rangers’ win streak, defenseman Brendan Smith was omitted from the lineup in favor of Steven Kampfer. Most recently, captain Ryan McDonagh has been missing with an injury. All of these also affect the penalty kill.
The Penalty Kill
The penalty kill was just one factor of the Rangers’ abysmal start to the season. The Rangers started the year 1-6 and in those games, the team went 18-for-24 on the penalty kill. That’s good for only 75 percent, a mark which would muster only the 28th rank in the NHL right now.
Over the Rangers’ win streak, the defense locked down big time, especially on the penalty kill. At this point, the Rangers are rolling with a penalty kill percentage of 81 percent. That is good for 14th in the NHL.
The Rangers’ overall defense got has been getting better and better and that is because the players have had some time to gel together a bit. However, one of the biggest pieces of this entire puzzle is one man. Henrik Lundqvist has been incredible over this stretch of wins.
Lundqvist let in an uncharacteristic amount of soft goals early in the year. But now, he is looking just like his regular self, and that isn’t just on 5-on-5. The saying goes that the goaltender is a team’s best penalty killer and in the Rangers’ case, there is no doubt about it.
Next: How bad defense negatively affects the goalie
The New York Rangers have only gotten better and better after a scary start to the season. As the 5-on-5 play has gotten stronger, so has the penalty killing. If the Rangers want to continue winning, the penalty kill needs to continue to be one of their strengths.