Centers get down to work fixing lacking faceoff game

The Rangers’ dramatic improvement at the faceoff dots from 23rd overall last year at 49.2 percent to fourth in the NHL at 54.4 percent entering Sunday’s match at the Garden against the Coyotes isn’t simply a matter of happenstance.

“During the summer, Arnie [associate coach Scott Arniel] sent all of our centermen video footage of other faceoff players in the league,” head coach Alain Vigneault said before the 3-2 victory in which his team went 29-31 on draws. “It was a very thorough video, and that, with our improved internal videos, we’re able to share information with our centers.”

Mika Zibanejad improved from 50.5 percent last year in Ottawa to 57.7 after a night on which he mysteriously took only nine faceoffs. Derek Stepan, notoriously weak with a career 44.6 percent efficiency, was over 50 percent before going 5-13 in this one. Kevin Hayes, a woeful 36.4 percent through his first two seasons, was up to 52.7 percent.

“Arnie sent me 300 minutes of right-handed centermen who were good on draws. I think it was [Claude] Giroux, [Patrice] Bergeron, [David] Backes and one other guy,” Stepan told The Post. “Watching them made me much more aware of how to position my body. It certainly helped.

The Rangers are carrying the max 23 men on the active roster, including eight defensemen and 13 forwards. When Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms) can return from IR, management will have a personnel decision to make.

“We’re having discussions internally about how to sort things out,” Vigneault said. “Do we carry eight defensemen, should we have 14 forwards? There are money [cap] issues that come into consideration.”

If the Blueshirts don’t want to carry two extra forwards, they would presumably have to risk losing Josh Jooris, who scored his first goal on Sunday and has played well on the fourth line, to a waiver claim. Then, there is the Dylan McIlrath quandary. The Rangers surely aren’t going to carry eight defensemen for long but similarly would prefer not to lose McIlrath, ensconced in the eighth slot, for nothing via waivers.

Adam Clendening was the healthy scratch to accommodate Dan Girardi’s return to the lineup.