Rangers' slumping power play can't be blamed on absence of Chris Kreider

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chris Kreider was in the lineup when the latest power-play slump started for the Rangers. The man-advantage group went a combined 0-for-5 with Kreider in it in the last two games he played.

So heading into Monday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the failure of the power play to score in the previous four games can’t simply be attributed to being without Kreider in the two games before Monday.

Kreider, who has been out with an upper-body injury, skated with the extras Monday morning at Nationwide Arena, but the 31-year-old forward missed his third straight game.

In the games Kreider missed, the much-talked-about Alexis Lafreniere took Kreider’s spot on the power play as the player stationed in front of the net. He did not have a shot on goal on the power play and wasn’t credited with a shot at all in the 2-1 loss to Montreal on Sunday (he had three against Dallas on Thursday but none on the power play).

The power-play failures haven’t hurt the Rangers all that much, though. They went 2-1-1 in the four games before Monday and were 24-13-7 overall. They have been less reliant on the power play this season than last and less reliant on goaltender Igor Shesterkin stealing games for them.

Shesterkin, who served as the backup against the Blue Jackets on Monday as Jaroslav Halak got the start, has a higher goals-against average (2.43 compared to 2.07) and a lower save percentage (.918 versus .935) this season than last season.

So that means the Rangers have been finding other ways to win this season. They entered Monday having scored 31 power-play goals in 140 opportunities, a conversion rate of 22.1%, 16th in the 32-team league. Last season, their power play clicked at 25.2%, fourth in the league.

But given that the Rangers had gone 13-3-2 in their previous 18 games, coach Gerard Gallant was not sweating the decreased power-play production just yet.

“They only had two chances [Sunday] night and they did score in the six-on-five [Artemi Panarin’s goal on a delayed penalty] when there was a penalty coming,’’ Gallant said Monday. “It’s got to get better. I mean, obviously it’s a little in a funk, but . . . I’m not in panic mode yet.’’

The most notable difference in this season’s power play, compared to last, is that free-agent addition Vincent Trocheck replaced Ryan Strome in the group. That doesn’t explain the dip in production, though, because Strome had five power-play goals all of last season and Trocheck had eight in 44 games this season entering Monday.

Trocheck’s total was second on the Rangers behind Mika Zibanejad, who had 12. Zibanejad’s 12 power-play goals entering Monday had him tied with Boston’s David Pastrnak for fourth in the league behind the Edmonton Oilers’ duo of Connor McDavid (16) and Leon Draisaitl (15) and Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (14).

Actually, the biggest difference in the power play this season from last is Kreider’s goal production, which has fallen from a league-leading 26 last season to four in 42 games this season.

Kreider had a career year last season with 52 goals overall, and he wasn’t expected to duplicate that performance. His 19 goals were tied with Zibanejad for the team lead. And the Rangers seem to be making up for the drop in Kreider’s numbers by getting goals from different places in the lineup.

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.