Rangers' changes in penalty killing starting to pay off

There’s nothing sexy about killing penalties, but if you do it well, it can help you win games.

Case in point: The Rangers entered Monday’s game against the Islanders at Madison Square Garden having won two games in a row, and with three wins in four games - with an overtime loss in the other. In those four games, they had allowed one power play goal in 18 times shorthanded, a kill rate of 94.4 percent. And even that one goal the PK unit allowed was offset by a shorthanded goal of its own.

"Our penalty kill's been really good,’’ Rangers coach David Quinn said Sunday. "And it's been pretty good all year, even when, statistically, we had given up a couple of goals [earlier in the season]. I just think we've got a little bit more depth killing penalties; our goaltending's been good during the kills, which is huge. There's a bunch of reasons why our kill's been good, basically, throughout the year, but even in particular the last three or four games.’’

With a more aggressive approach this season, Quinn has expanded the roster of players used to kill penalties. Having lost one of their top penalty killers in Jesper Fast to free agency, Quinn has put forwards Pavel Buchnevich and Chris Kreider in regular penalty-killing roles. And defenseman Adam Fox, who did not kill penalties much as a rookie last season, is a regular on the man-down unit now, as well.

"Growing up, and even in college, I killed some penalties,’’ said Fox, who credited others, like former teammate Marc Staal, Jacob Trouba, and his regular defense partner, Ryan Lindgren, for helping show him the penalty-killing ropes. "Obviously, I want to be a guy who's trusted in all situations.’’

Entering Monday, the Rangers had played three consecutive games where they did not allow a power play goal (14-for-14). That included snuffing the high-octane Washington Capitals man up unit on four tries in their last game Thursday. The Caps had scored a man advantage goal in five straight games coming in, and Thursday’s game was the first time all season Washington had failed to score a power play goal in any game in which it had at least three power plays.

On the season, the Rangers’ penalty kill was ranked 12th in the league entering Monday, having killed 31 of 38 shorthanded situations (81.6 percent). In 2019-20, the penalty kill ranked 23rd overall, with a success rate of 77.4 percent.

Quinn has credited new assistant coach Jacques Martin with improving the defense overall and the man down unit, but the Rangers also clearly made it a point in the offseason to do something to bolster the team’s penalty killing performance. It was one of the reasons they signed former Devils center Kevin Rooney as a free agent. Rooney played 49 games and scored four goals last season, and two of those were shorthanded. In his career, he had 10 goals before this season, and three of them were shorthanded.

This season, he had two goals in eight games entering Monday, one of those shorthanded.

Rooney, 27, said the penalty killers have been aggressive this season, and he also said it has helped that the penalty-killing forwards have established rhythm and chemistry by playing in set pairs. Normally, Mika Zibanejad and Buchnevich play together on the first pair, with either Kreider and Ryan Strome or Rooney and Brett Howden taking the next shift.

"I think over the last stretch here, we've really found that chemistry with certain partners, and that really helps when you're jumping out there with the same guy every time,’’ Rooney said. "Jacques’ done an amazing job as well, you know, helping us improve the penalty kill.’’

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.