Rangers coach David Quinn makes it clear that he has confidence in Adam Fox

CHICAGO —Adam Fox didn’t take it personally when Rangers coach David Quinn decided to send five forwards out on the ice in the Blueshirts’ final power play Sunday against the Boston Bruins.

“Things weren’t really going well,’’ Fox said after Wednesday’s optional morning skate before the Rangers’ game at the United Center against the Blackhawks. “We had a lot of opportunities (0-for-4, with a shorthanded goal allowed) before that. Obviously, the switch really helped us out.’’

Forward Pavel Buchnevich went on the ice instead of Fox, the rookie defenseman from Jericho, via Harvard. Mika Zibanejad moved to the point, where Fox had been playing in place of the injured Tony DeAngelo, and Zibanejad scored what turned out to be the Rangers’ only goal, cutting a 2-0 deficit to 2-1. The Rangers would go on to lose, 3-1.

Quinn said on Tuesday that he used the five-forward power play — a look he used a handful of times last season — simply to shake things up. It was not, he insisted, an indictment of Fox’s play on the power play in that game.

“Adam Fox has had a phenomenal year, we’ve all talked about it,’’ said Quinn, who added he just was looking for a spark when he went with Buchnevich. “When that game ended, I had to remind myself that sometimes my expectations — and our expectations — are so high for [Fox], because he’s played so well, that we forget he’s [22] years old. And we have to keep that in mind. He’s played a lot of hockey; it was our 10th game in 17 days, [Sunday]. I think we as a group were a little bit sluggish against the Bruins, and give them credit, but watching the game again, we just were sluggish.’’

DeAngelo was back Wednesday night   after missing two games with an injured right shoulder. He returned to the role of being the point man on the first power play with Fox moved back to the second unit.

DeAngelo, the Rangers’ fourth-leading scorer entering Wednesday with 13 goals and 30 assists, both career highs, has been the No. 1 point man most of the season for a power play that entered Wednesday tied for sixth in efficiency (23.2 percent) and tied for fourth-most goals (43). The extra-man unit had clicked at a rate of 35.1 percent (20 goals in 57 attempts) over the previous 22 games, dating to Dec. 27. Their 20 power-play goals in that stretch were the most in the league.

The success of the power play, accompanied by a penalty killing unit that had not allowed a goal in six straight games (13 kills in 13 attempts) entering Wednesday had been a big part of the reason the Rangers had won four straight games before the loss to Boston.

Fox was willing to write off the power play’s struggles against Boston as just a bad day against a good team with a solid penalty kill. The Bruins, who had the NHL’s best record entering Wednesday, was second in killing penalties at 84.2%. 

“They kind of stifled us on the entries [into the offensive zone] and being able to get set up,’’ Fox said. “And we’d maybe get a shot and not many second chances after that. It’s one game against one of the top PK groups, so I don’t think it’s going to kill a lot of the guys’ confidence going forward.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.