Staple: Rangers' power-play woes costing them games
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The power is out now for the Rangers. They can't afford to have that happen.
They had three straight third-period power plays, three straight chances to break a 1-1 tie Sunday night against a good but undermanned Red Wings team.
But the first unit, the one with Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal, plus rookie Michael Del Zotto and the cannon-shooting Ales Kotalik at the points, produced barely any good chances, much less goals and the Rangers lost, 3-1.
The power play was the driving force behind the seven-game win streak in October - the Rangers were 14-for-51 (27.5 percent) over their first 12 games - and now, it's another reason why this team is bobbing along at .500, below the Mendoza Line of eighth-place in the East.
They are just 5-for-39 on the power play in the last 12 games, in which the Rangers are 4-8-0. Gaborik, held without a shot Sunday night for the first time all season, was blanketed by Nicklas Lidstrom. Kotalik seems completely lost. Del Zotto doesn't have the playmaking flourish he did at the start.
John Tortorella sent the second unit, with Sean Avery, Chris Drury and Chris Higgins, out instead of Gaborik's group at one point during the power-play parade. Avery had the game on his stick after a terrific feed from Higgins but fanned.
"The other unit moved the puck really well, they got a couple of great chances," Prospal said. "Our unit, we'd get into the zone and we just couldn't generate anything."
That's bad, bad news for this team, which is developing an identity that looks a lot like the Rangers under Tom Renney: Play smart, play safe even, and let Gaborik do his thing, especially on the power play.
It's not what Tortorella envisioned when he took over in February. He hates safe, hates cautious play, but this is what he's got.
They'd be better if Henrik Lundqvist, who surrendered a buttery soft game-winner to Dan Cleary with 2:03 left, was his usual strong self.
They'd be better if Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury and even Higgins, who has been very good the last couple of games, could get more consistent offense going.
But really, they'd win games like Sunday night's if the power play were working. And the fact that they've averaged barely three power plays a game in the last dozen shows something else, too, something missing in the hard work five-on-five.
Lundqvist, as he showed Saturday in Buffalo, can get his mojo back. If he doesn't, there's not much point in playing this season out at all.
But if teams have figured out how to get Gaborik off his game on the power play, this team will be lucky to score twice a night.
"Obviously, other teams watch video to see what we're trying to accomplish out there," Prospal said. "We just have to make it simple: Take it to the point, shoot the puck and go for rebounds. At least until we get more confidence with the thing."
These Rangers are not going to light it up five-on-five. With chances as glorious as those three power plays in the third Sunday night, they have to get at least one. It is really that simple.
