BALANCE OF POWER
SEPARATE but equal doesn’t work on the ice, either. And most assuredly not if that historically discredited concept means keeping Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the bench for the start of half of the Rangers’ power plays.
The 1A-1B approach adopted by the Rangers seven games ago to accommodate their surfeit of offensive talent has come to an end. The Rangers are reverting to a traditional first and second units. They are going back to the recipe that resulted in success with the man-advantage for the past three-plus years:
Zibanejad, Kreider, Ar- temi Panarin, Adam Fox, plus Patrick Kane. With a second unit featuring Vladimir Tarasenko, Vincent Trocheck, Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Jacob Trouba.
“Having so many good options can be a blessing and a curse,” Zibanejad told The Post after his team prepared to play the back end of their home-and-home against the Hurricanes, on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. “I compare this to watching Man U [Manchester United] play soccer.
“They have so much talent that very good players are on the bench or maybe don’t even get to dress for the game. There are always choices. Sometimes you can have too many choices. You don’t give a child 1,000 toys and say, ‘Pick one.’ ”
The Rangers split into somewhat co-equal branches of the power play as a means to get Kane and Tarasenko their accustomed minutes. And through the first six games of that experiment, the club went 5-for-20 at five-on-four, the 25 percent a healthy enough rate.
The thing is, though, Zibanejad ranked eighth in time among forwards and Kreider ranked sixth. They had combined to score 66 of the Blueshirts’ 100 power-play goals from the start of last season until the bifurcation of duties. The thing is, the power play never quite seemed dynamic.
“All 10 of us want to start the power play, but no one was complaining about ice time. We’re not about that here,” said Zibanejad, who is tied for third in the NHL with 19 power-play goals. “I think the way we’ve been handling it shows how much respect we have for one another.”
There are challenges associated with forming a new PP1 with just 11 games remaining in the regular season and with limited practice time with which to perfect it. Zibanejad pointed out, though, that the first unit is the same as the one that played most of the season, other than Kane replacing Trocheck.
Kane said that he generally played on either half-wall with Chicago. The alignment on which the Rangers worked Tuesday had him down low. That will represent another adjustment for the wing.
“It’s a little different than I’m accustomed to, but I know how Bread and Mika like to work their seam plays with Mika setting up in the off-wing circle,” Kane told The Post. “I’ll make the adjustment.
“The idea is for us to become more of a shooting power play. It’s not just shooting to shoot, but taking meaningful shots. Foxy and Bread are great passers, but they know when it’s time to shoot it. The focus is on getting pucks to the net.”
The Rangers are ninth in the league with a 23.1 percent powerplay success ratio. That doesn’t signify a failure, but there has been a sense all season that the power play has underperformed. Opposition game-planning surely has been a factor.
“We’re going to try and utilize Kaner as much as possible without trying to force it,” Zibanejad said. “He has special instincts, he reads plays, and he can shoot it as well.
“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’ll take what the PK gives us and force them to defend against us.”
The Blueshirts devoted a halfhour of their 40-minute practice session to working on the power play, both with and without opposition. Huddles among the firstunit were commonplace. Communication will be critical in order for this talented unit to reach its potential that appears unlimited.
“Eleven games might not seem like enough time to work on it, but we should have enough opportunity to develop chemistry before the playoffs,” Kane said. “We want to score, we want to create momentum, we want to create energy.
“As soon as the ref ’s arm goes up, we’re going to be excited to hop over the boards and get work.”
The more exciting it will be with Zibanejad and Kreider back in their rightful places. On PP1.