The Rangers finally have been able to depend on their power play of late. Perhaps a little too much.
As the Rangers’ man-advantage has become more of a threat, their five-on-five offense has become less of one. Over their past six games, the Rangers have scored 14 goals — nine on the power play and five at even strength — with a 3-3 record to show for it.
So coach David Quinn began shaking up the lines Tuesday at practice in the hope of finding a spark without the man-advantage. That included splitting up Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, who had displayed a strong chemistry since they were put together in late October. They had spent just a few games apart since then, though the even-strength scoring from their line has cooled off recently.
“That’s definitely on the table,” Quinn said of separating Panarin and Strome. “We just gotta get more offense five-on-five. … Just something we’re thinking about doing and wanted to see what it looked like today.”
Jesper Fast remained on Panarin’s line at right wing Tuesday, but they were skating with Filip Chytil in the middle. The rest of the top nine was jumbled and rotating with Mika Zibanejad (flu) sitting out, though the top-line center is expected to play Wednesday against the Maple Leafs at the Garden. Zibanejad could have Chris Kreider back on his left if the winger is deemed good to go from his upper-body injury, with either Kaapo Kakko or Pavel Buchnevich on the right.
Quinn hinted that Kakko could be in line for a promotion, saying “he’s definitely been more of a threat” offensively, while Buchnevich was benched in the third period Monday night, getting just two shifts over the final 20 minutes.
Strome, meanwhile, figures to center a third line with Phillip Di Giuseppe and either Buchnevich or Kakko. The 26-year-old Strome is in the midst of a career season with 12 goals and 32 assists (and could be on the move before the trade deadline as a pending restricted free agent), but two power-play assists account for all of his scoring over the past six games.
“Usually the lines today are the lines tomorrow,” Strome said. “I think obviously we haven’t scored five-on-five, so I guess just a different look. I think we’re trying to find a bit of a spark. The power play’s been really good, but five-on-five we can obviously do a bit more.”
Strome has benefitted from playing with a talent like Panarin, but said he believes he can continue his strong play even if the two are broken up.
“No matter who you’re playing with, I think my game has grown a lot this year,” Strome said. “It doesn’t really matter who I’m playing with, I have to bring the same performance. Whether it’s Artemi or whoever, you have to try to elevate your game and try to make your linemates better. If the lines are split up, I think it’s a good challenge and good opportunity to hopefully spread out some offense a bit and try to get everyone going. Obviously [the Maple Leafs] are a high-powered team, so we gotta get everybody going.”
The Rangers’ latest five-on-five issues came Monday night, when they lost 5-3 to the Stars, with the power play providing all three goals. While Quinn said he is encouraged by that unit’s increased production, he wants to see more balance.
“If you look at our numbers, we spent almost seven more minutes in the offensive zone than they did [Monday] night,” Quinn said. “But we’re just not hard enough around the net. We’re not shooting enough. We’re shooting a little bit more, [but] we just got to be more opportunistic.”
For more on the Rangers, listen to the latest episode of the “Up In The Blue Seats” podcast:
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February 04, 2020 at 04:30PM
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David Quinn seeks even-strength spark with Rangers' line shuffle - New York Post
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