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What seemed painfully obvious to everyone watching the Rangers’ confusion and ineffectiveness trying to operate a four-righty power play for the four games since Mika Zibanejad’s return struck the coaching staff, as well.
And so, Thursday night in Columbus, Ohio, the Blueshirts will replace righty Ryan Strome with lefty Kaapo Kakko on the first unit while also restoring Artemi Panarin to his spot in the off-wing left circle while Zibanejad works as the bumper in the middle.
Kakko had gotten significant time on the first unit during Zibanejad’s 13-game absence and had created chemistry with Panarin while setting up on his off-side, right circle.
“Obviously the power play hasn’t been good enough, Mika coming back and a lot of moving parts,” said coach David Quinn, whose club went 2-for-19 with the man-advantage over the past four games. “We’re just better off having that lefty up on that half-wall and I think Kaapo has earned that opportunity.”
Strome will move to the second unit with Filip Chytil, Brendan Lemieux and point men Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba.
Quinn said he intends to reconfigure the top six, with Zibanejad skating between Lemieux and Kakko while Strome centers Panarin and Chris Kreider. Chytil and Pavel Buchnevich, bumped off the power play, likely will skate with Jesper Fast on the third line.
Marc Staal, who has missed the past 12 games following ankle surgery, was a full participant in practice Wednesday, but may not be able to go against the Blue Jackets. The same holds true for Greg McKegg, who has been sidelined for the past five with a lower-body injury he sustained in Montreal on Nov. 23.
“[Staal is] getting close. We’ll talk [later] and see how he feels,” Quinn said. “But having a lower-body injury, it might take a little longer because of the skating aspect.”
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Yegor Rykov, who was placed on season-opening injured reserve after suffering an ankle injury during the Traverse City rookie tournament, and who has been rehabbing and skating with the AHL Wolf Pack, is expected to make his season debut for Hartford this weekend.
Quinn again hammered home the importance of shooting the puck, something the Rangers do not do instinctively.
“It’s a team-wide practice,” he said. “We want to tap it in. One of the reasons we have one of the best shooting percentages in hockey [11.05 percent, fifth in the NHL] is because we only shoot when we think we can score.“If I blew the whistle every time we should shoot the puck in practice, we’d still be on the second drill.”
“I think if you talk to people at the lower levels, college coaches or whatnot, the new generation player, for some reason that’s a problem throughout our game as these kids are growing up,” Quinn said. “We’re the youngest team in the league … but I also think it might be a bit of a European thing, too, so we’ve just got to keep harping on it.
Alexandar Georgiev, who shut out the Devils on Saturday in his most recent start, will go in Columbus while Henrik Lundqvist will start at the Garden on Friday against Montreal.
For more on the Rangers, listen to the debut episode of the “Up in the Blue Seats” podcast:
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