The Rangers power play has not been much of a factor in the past seven games.
After going 0-for-4 on the power play in a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jackets Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, the Blueshirts now are 1-for-20 with the man advantage since Feb. 25.
“I think we’re getting good looks,” Vincent Trocheck said. “I don’t know. I think if we knew the answer to that, we’d be scoring more goals, but there’s been a lot in the last couple of games where I feel like we could have scored a few, and just, pucks didn’t go in.”
It’s clear how much the Rangers are missing Adam Fox at the point, where the 27-year-old defenseman has quarterbacked the top power play for much of his tenure in New York.
Head coach Peter Laviolette also opted to reinsert Chris Kreider onto the first unit in place of Trocheck, who was bumped to the second group with Jonny Brodzinski, Alexis Lafrenière, Will Cuylle and K’Andre Miller.
The Rangers power play is ranked 24th in the NHL at 19.2 percent.
Juuso Parssinen was a healthy scratch for the first time since the Rangers acquired him earlier this month.
As a result, Brett Berard drew back into the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the previous game in Ottawa.
He slotted onto the right wing of the third line next to Kreider and Sam Carrick.
Artemi Panarin extended his goal-scoring streak to five games with a goal in Sunday’s 7-3 loss, over which he has collected five goals and three assists.
It is his longest goal streak since Dec. 23-30, 2023.
His two-point effort against the Senators on Saturday counted as his 150th multi-point game with the Rangers, tying Steve Vickers for the seventh most in Rangers history.
Since Panarin came to New York in 2019-20, only four players have more multi-point games: the Oilers’ Connor McDavid (213) and Leon Draisaitl (191), the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (180) and the Bruins’ David Pastrnak (158).
The Rangers will be off Monday before they head to Winnipeg to face the Jets on Tuesday.
