Rangers need to ignite power play
Lauri Korpikoski #28 of the Phoenix Coyotes falls to the ice after a challenge from Ryan McDonagh #27 and Ruslan Fedotenko #26 of the New York Rangers. (Jan. 10, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- When a team has won 10 of 11 games -- as the Rangers had done before Thursday -- a shutout loss can feel like a sudden jolt off course.
Now the problems are magnified, the questions more pointed, and efforts are being made to explain a new scoring drought after a 3-0 loss to Ottawa. This is what winger Ruslan Fedotenko cannot understand.
"I don't know why after one game it's a question of scoring," Fedotenko said. "We've been winning, finding a way to win, and we've been scoring. After one loss, we talk about a lull."
To be fair, it's hard to find too many flaws in the first-place Rangers' productivity. But they have had difficulties on power plays recently -- 3-for-34 -- and have dropped to 22nd in the league in power-play percentage (14.8). They were 0-for-4 Thursday.
"It's been awful," center Brad Richards said. "There's no other way to put it. It goes without saying, we need that to get going, obviously."
The Rangers still could be without center Brandon Dubinsky (who has yet to score a power-play goal this season) as they try to begin a new winning streak against Toronto on Saturday. Dubinsky, out since Tuesday with a sore shoulder, skated a bit at practice Friday but left early. He's a game-time decision.
Wojtek Wolski might slide into Dubinsky's place again, although coach John Tortorella suggested the lines might change entirely. He dropped the struggling Artem Anisimov to the fourth line during the second period against Ottawa but didn't decide if those pairings would remain. A shakeup might generate some better power-play numbers.
"It's going to bite us," Tortorella said. "You start getting this grind of the year and these months here, that's going to have to help us win some games. That's a concern that we can't get some sort of consistency there."
The losses have occurred seldom enough this season that they still sting. "We don't have any attitude of complacency," Richards said. "There's no one going home thinking everything's OK last night. We're all upset. We all come in here and want to make it right."
Notes & quotes: Defenseman Jeff Woywitka will not make the trip to Toronto and won't resume skating until Tuesday because of a foot injury. He last played Dec. 30.
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