Despite winning seven of their last eight games and earning points in eight of their last nine, the New York Rangers have struggled largely on the powerplay this season. Actually, "struggled" may be a bit of an understatement considering the Rangers are currently 27th in the NHL with the man advantage, only converting on 12.9-percent of their chances. It's ironic because one of the main reasons for going out and acquiring star center Brad Richards this past summer was for his powerplay quarterbacking abilities, but somehow the Rangers still rank towards the bottom of the league with the man advantage, just as they did for most of last year.
This may not apply to all teams, but for the Rangers, in past years we've seen powerplay conversions often result in wins. The problem, though, has been that they haven't been able to formulate a solidified powerplay since the Straka-Nylander-Jagr years, and even then it wasn't the best. If the Rangers want to be the competitive hockey club they have intentions of being, one of the first steps is being a threat on the powerplay, and right now they are joke more than anything when in that scenario.
New York was lucky to have such success over the past few weeks with such a struggling powerplay, but on Saturday in Montreal we saw what failure there can do to this team. Obviously there was quite an aggregation of reasons why the Rangers lost that game, but registering just one shot on three powerplay attempts didn't help much. The powerplay is supposed to present a team with an advantage, or an opportunity at grabbing momentum, but it's acted as the complete opposite for the Blueshirts so far this season.
In the New York Post yesterday, Larry Brooks suggested that the Rangers recall forward Mats Zuccarello -- a player who's success on the powerplay grew during last season -- to help the dysfunctional units that are currently taking the ice on a nightly basis. He has a justified argument there, because Zuccarello does possess some playmaking abilities, but I believe that the root of the powerplay problems lies within strategy, not personnel, and that's on the coaching staff.
When taking over the head coaching job of the Rangers in 2009, John Tortorella claimed that he would be in complete control of the powerplay. Well, from then until now, when exactly have the Rangers had a successful powerplay? If "never" comes to mind, you are completely correct. Sure, it's had spurts of goals here and there, but the Rangers have never been a consistent team on the powerplay since Torts became coach, no matter who occupied which spots.
It's not about whom, it's a matter of what, and as is right now, the Rangers are not doing much to help themselves turn things around on the powerplay. First and foremost, there is absolutely no movement. I don't know how many times I've complained about this over the course of the season to this point, but it's a reoccurring problem that irks me every damn game.
If I was given the chance to ask John Tortorella one question about anything I could think of, it would be as follows; "how do you expect an immobile powerplay to generate scoring chances?"
It's ridiculous how the coaches ignore as simple of a concept as movement for this amount of time despite repeated failure. As a penalty-killer, your job is fairly easy if the players you are defending are stationary and not trying to make tic-tac-toe passing plays. Think about it; all you have to do is stay in your zone between the player and the net, and they will never have a shooting and/or passing line that will make any progress.
The Rangers' only movement on the powerplay is at the point when the point men slowly stagger back and forth while waiting for an inexistent passing lane to present itself. The two players down low stand at either side of the net, not moving, serving no purpose at all since the puck remains up top with the three players at the point and along the boards. That is not a formula for success, and I think anyone with the least amount of hockey knowledge can recognize that.
Tortorella needs to instill the rotation system and get rid of this umbrella-type powerplay that has failed time and time again. The defensemen, at times, need to pinch low while one of the lower forwards cuts to the slot, and that simple of a transition will open up lanes that weren't there before. Or how about actually planting someone in front of the net? Like I said above, the Rangers have two forwards positioned on either side of the net... huh?
Put a big body like Brian Boyle right in the goalie's face, and then when the usual weak point-shot is taken because there are no other lanes available, the goalie will not be able to glove it without any problem whatsoever. That will then translate to more rebound opportunities, which should be capitalized on by having everyone collapse to the net, and sometimes even straight up goals.
You see, the slightest of changes can and will make a difference. Before any call-ups or personnel changes are made, the coaching staff should look at their strategy and make the proper adjustments, and then go from there. I think they will be surprised by the response.
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