The New York Rangers' power play has gone from bad to worse. Since converting two out of four attempts against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 11, the Blueshirts have gone an abysmal 2 for 19 on the man advantage, good for just a 10.5 percent conversion rate.
Overall, the Rangers' power play is a meager 14.29, tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for 28th in the league. You can even argue that it has gotten worse, as in their 2-0 win on Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks, the Rangers went 0 for 3. For the record, Vancouver's penalty kill percentage is just 74.36, and they're just one slot away from finding themselves in the bottom 10.
Nobody seems to have the slightest clue of how to fix it, or else they would have converted more than just one power play over their previous three games, which included a loss to the San Jose Sharks, the embarrassing performance against Calgary, and their win over the Canucks.
New York Rangers need to change everything up until something clicks
The kicker? Of the three teams, Calgary has the best PK unit, at 75 percent, and ranked just one slot ahead of Vancouver's. As for the Sharks'? It's the fifth-worst, at 66.67 percent. So, how do the Rangers even begin to go about fixing this?
It goes without saying that the Rangers need to look and the mirror and tell themselves that what they're currently doing isn't working. As for fixing it, why not roll with different lineups and strategies until something clicks?
Right now, if you're the Rangers, and you're ranked 30th in scoring out of 32 teams, and your power play can't catch a break, it's a sign that your whole offensive approach is holding you back. When you're performing that badly on the power play, it's also a sign that you're too predictable when you should be scoring at least 20 percent of the time, and that opponents have figured you out.
The Rangers' entire offense is holding them back
At 4-5-2, with 10 points in 11 contests, and you're on pace to finish below 0.500 in points, you don't have anything to lose. So mix up the lines, try new strategies on the man advantage that you haven't tried yet, and keep experimenting until something clicks. You still have another few months to get this right before the playoff race starts to get fierce, but the sense of urgency needs to be there.
If there is any good news for the Rangers, it's that, defensively, apart from a few mishaps, they can play well enough to at least keep the Blueshirts in games. This means the man advantage doesn't need a complete overhaul, but nudges in the right direction. Continual nudges until this group starts playing like a playoff-caliber unit.
Should they fix the power play and, by extension, their offensive play, the Rangers' season isn't over yet. But if there isn't a sense of urgency starting now, then they can feel free to start thinking about their next lottery pick.