TORONTO – The Rangers scored a power-play goal on Friday, they actually did, but when Radek Dvorak went short-side on Wade Flaherty with 32 seconds to go for the team’s second PPG in its last 56 advantages, it was too late.
Too late to affect the outcome of a game the Rangers would lose 3-2 to the Islanders. Too late to inject adrenaline into the, uh, specialty unit whose incompetence has been killing the Blueshirts for more than a month. Too late to affect the perception of the power-play unit as nothing more than a drag on the team.
“It’s killing us,” Ron Low observed prior to last night’s match here against the Maple Leafs. “It’s a killer for the hockey club.”
Those with short-term memory loss may not be able to recall, but the Rangers actually at one time led the NHL in power-play efficiency, clicking and firing away at a 27.1 percent success rate in converting 45 of 171 chances through the first 33 games of the season. At even strength the Rangers had been awful, outscored at that point by 84-68, but their power-play and short-handed work had kept the team within a game of .500 at 16-17-1.
Since then, however, the Blueshirts have been putrid with the man advantage. Opponents began to pressure the Rangers all over the ice, at the points, on the half-boards, through the neutral zone, thus taking away time and space from a PP unit that had registered one gorgeous goal after another off creative diagonal passes and drives off the fly.
And just like that, the goals stopped coming. Shots from the point stopped getting through to the net. Passes through the opposition PK box stopped reaching their destination. Time after time, the Rangers would be forced back after being unable to even gain the zone to set up.
“There have been some nights when we’ve had good chances but just haven’t been able to finish, but there have been others where we can’t even set up properly,” said Brian Leetch, who generally plays the entire two minutes – and it has been the entire two minutes far more of than not, lately. “There have been some nights where we feel good, others where there’s a real bad feeling out there.”
As the power-play production has vanished, so increasingly have the Rangers. Even though the Blueshirts had outscored their opponents 35-34 at even strength in the 16 games immediately preceding last night’s contest, they’d managed only a 4-9-2-1 record in those games. Thus, they entered last night’s match six games under .500 and in 10th place, seven points out of a playoff berth.
“We all believe that we have the talent to score on the power play, we’re using the same people now as we did at the start of the season when we were scoring,” said Petr Nedved, who has only three PPGs. “I know that it’s become very frustrating for us to go out there and not be able to produce anything.”
The unit’s frustration levels affect the team’s overall confidence. Instead of getting a lift from the specialty unit, the Rangers seem to become demoralized after repeated failure. They stop shooting the puck.
“It’s definitely a sore point,” Mark Messier said. “It’s obviously been contributing to the losing.”
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Kirk McLean was in nets last night for his first appearance in exactly one month, since he was pulled in Carolina on Dec. 27 after surrendering three goals on 16 shots in 25:32. It marked the goaltender’s 11th start of the year and fifth in the last 44 games. “I’ve worked hard in practice to stay ready,” said McLean, bypassed in favor of Vitali Yeremeyev in Boston on Jan. 13. “I’ve been around long enough to know not to ask questions.”
Rich Pilon, who did not return after leaving the ice with a bruised foot incurred while blocking a shot midway through the second period Friday, was doubtful for last night. Brad Brown, on IR since injuring his shoulder in Phoenix on Jan. 4, was ready to return to the lineup.