Special teams were an integral part of the Rangers’ success last season, when the club finished among the NHL’s top 10 on the power play and penalty kill.
The Blueshirts had the fourth-highest success rate on the power play at 25.2 percent and seventh-highest on the penalty kill at 82.3 percent. What the Rangers got out of their special teams wasn’t only evident in the statistics, but in intangible ways, as well.
The top power-play unit of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome and Adam Fox worked like clockwork. Seemingly every time Fox fed Zibanejad in the left faceoff circle for a one-timer, the puck ended up in the back of the net. Even when they didn’t produce a goal, more often than not, the Rangers came away with possession after a stretch with the man-advantage. And they gave up just two shorthanded goals last season, a league low.
“Me and Kreids were talking, we’re ready to get the group back together and get that chemistry back,” Fox told The Post on Thursday night after the Rangers’ 5-2 loss to the Devils in their third preseason game. “Power play is fun. Penalty kill is important, too. We scored two shorthanded goals today, scored one against the Islanders. You don’t want to be cheating on the penalty kill, but you do want to be threats, too.”
