Rangers returning to trusty recipe in latest power-play shakeup

Larry Brooks

NHL

From Larry Brooks

March 22, 2023 | 7:25 p.m

Separate but equal does not work on the ice either. And certainly not when that historically discredited concept means leaving Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the bench early in the half of Rangers’ power plays.

The 1A-1B approach that Rangers used seven games ago to accommodate their overkill in offense is over. Rangers are returning to a traditional first and second unit. They draw on the recipe that has led to success with the Man Advantage for the last 3+ years:

Zibanejad, Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and Patrick Kane. With a second session featuring Vlad Tarasenko, Vincent Trocheck, Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Jacob Trouba.

“Having so many good options can be both a blessing and a curse,” Zibanejad told The Post after his team prepared to play the back end of their home game against the Hurricanes Thursday in Raleigh, NC. “I liken it to watching Man U [Manchester United] Play soccer.

“They have so much talent that very good players are benched or maybe not even able to get dressed for the game. There are always choices. Sometimes you can have too many choices. You don’t give a kid 1,000 toys and say, ‘Take your pick.’ ”

Rangers split roughly even legs of the power play to give Kane and Tarasenko their usual minutes. And in the first six games of this experiment, the club went 5 against 20 at five against four, the 25 percent was a healthy rate.

However, the thing is that among the forwards, Zibanejad took eighth place and Kreider took sixth place. They had collectively scored 66 of the Blueshirts’ 100 power play goals from the start of last season to the division of duties. Thing is, the power play never seemed quite dynamic.

“All 10 of us want to start the power play but no one has complained about the ice age. That’s not what we’re about here,” said Zibanejad, who ranks third in the NHL with 19 power play goals. “I think the way we handled it shows how much respect we have for each other.”

There are challenges associated with forming a new PP1 with only 11 regular season games left and limited practice time to perfect it. However, Zibanejad pointed out that the first unit is the same as the one that has played most of the season, save for Kane replacing Trocheck.

Kane said he generally played on both half walls with Chicago. The alignment Rangers were working on Tuesday had failed him deeply. This will be another adjustment for the wing.

“It’s a little different than what I’m used to, but I know how Bread and Mika love to play their seam games with Mika in the off-wing circle,” Kane told The Post. “I’ll make the adjustment

“The idea is that we become more of a shooting power play. It’s not just about taking photos, but about meaningful recordings. Foxy and Bread are great passers, but they know when it’s time to shoot it. The focus is on getting pucks in the net.”

Rangers are ninth in the league with a 23.1 percent power play success rate. That doesn’t mean failure, but it was felt all season that the power play was below average. The opposition’s game planning was certainly a factor.

“We will try to use Kaner as much as possible without trying to force it,” Zibanejad said. “He has special instincts, he reads plays and he can also direct.

“We have five threats on our unit. We have to take advantage of that. The mindset is to go out and score. That goes for all 10 of us. We take what the PK gives us and force them to defend themselves against us.”

The Blueshirts devoted half an hour of their 40-minute practice session to working on the power play, both with and without an opponent. Crowds under the first unit were the order of the day. Communication will be crucial in order for this talented entity to realize their seemingly limitless potential.

“Eleven games might not seem like enough time to work on that, but we should have enough opportunity to develop chemistry before the playoffs,” Kane said. “We want to score, we want to generate momentum, we want to generate energy.

“Once the referee’s arm goes up, we look forward to jumping the boards and getting work.”

It will be all the more exciting when Zibanejad and Kreider are back in their rightful places. On PP1.