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OTTAWA — The Rangers power play was operating at 20 percent heading into Saturday’s game against the Senators, having capitalized on just seven of the 35 man-advantage opportunities they’ve had so far this season.
Head coach Mike Sullivan has consistently called it a work in progress amid personnel changes and, more notably, the unfamiliarity with having more left-handed shots than right-handed shots for the first time in years.
The adjustment to having three lefties (Pavel Dorofeyev, Alexis Lafrenière, J.T. Miller) and two righties (Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad), as opposed to the four-righty alignment they’ve deployed the last seven seasons, is apparently more significant than one would expect.
“We knew this was going to be a challenge,” Miller told The Post after practice Friday. “It seems like a simple thing, but having one more lefty versus righties, it just puts — we’re still shuffling. I mean, if you look, I’ve played pretty much everywhere. We’re trying to find something that’s going to click. We’ve had some games where some stuff has worked, but it’s just there’s been nothing that’s been consistent in the sense of getting the good looks. For a while there, we had plenty of ‘O’ zone time. Just really not dangerous plays that we like. And then unfortunately, it’s like anything where you don’t have the confidence a little bit. You start to go off the rails, and then your breakouts aren’t as clean and you don’t get in and frustration builds.
“So just got to find something. I think that’s why we did it [Friday in practice]. We did a lot of 4-on-5, on twos, just to feel the puck. You can see the emphasis is ‘move it quickly.’ Like, know what you’re going to do before you get on. So that’s something we’ve been working on. Listen, it just takes one or two and you’re going to start to get confident.”
For the most part, the Rangers have effectively entered the zone and set up on the power play.
The top unit has scored in two of the past four games, but their zone time has not been nearly as effective as it was earlier in the season. Pushed to the perimeter lately, the Rangers power play has either struggled to hold the zone or looked disjointed when they do.
The Rangers have also given up two short-handed goals against this season, with the last one dating back to the Devils game. Only three teams — the Senators, Avalanche and Canucks — have given up more.
“I think we’ve had moments where it’s looked pretty good,” Sullivan said Saturday morning at Canadian Tire Centre. “We’ve had moments where it’s just been disconnected. It’s a continued work in progress. Trying to sort through how we can get these guys on the same page, build more predictability inside of our power-play structure. Ultimately, we’ve got to get them to their instinctive mindset, and that’s when all the players are at their very best. But I think there’s been some moments where they’ve looked really good and their decisions have been good, their execution has been good, there’s pace and tempo to what they do out there. We think that’s when they’re at their best. When they’re slow and deliberate, they’re easier to defend. I’m probably stating the obvious when I say that.
“You could probably say that about any power play, but having said that, when they make good decisions, they execute and there’s pace and tempo to what they do out there, they’re hard to defend. They’re good players and they get looks. We’re trying to build more predictability inside of the group.”