Power Rangers coming up big

THE RANGERS always had a strong penalty kill under John Tortorella, but now seem to have turned a corner in the other element of their special teams under Alain Vigneault.

It’s no secret that a significant reason for the Rangers’ turnaround has been the success of their power play. Over their last 12 games, the Blueshirts are 7-2-3 and have tallied at least one power-play goal in nine of those 12 (13-for-43).

The power play has helped fuel a Rangers offense that still ranks near the bottom of the league in total goals scored (111).

“Five-on-five we’ve been dry, especially in December. The power play has had to score some big goals and lately it’s given our team a lot of momentum,” Brad Richards said. “The PK’s been strong all year and really done its job, so it’s nice to have the power play catch up to that. If you can keep that going, it takes a lot of pressure off of your five-on-five game.”

The Rangers, who finished 23rd in the league last year in power play percentage (16%), now rank sixth in the league this season, converting on 21% of their attempts as of Saturday. But beyond the goals and the in-game momentum, the power-play success seems to have generated a collective sense of calm for an offense that is confident it will get the job done.

“Guys don’t feel an extra weight on their shoulders to score on the power play, they feel like it’s an opportunity to score, an opportunity to make a difference in the hockey game,” Chris Kreider said. “You see guys get up for those power plays and they’re real excited to jump over the boards, throw a few pucks on net and hope good things happen.”

Vigneault says the media seemed to worry more about the power play than he did once he took the New York job, but did not diminish how important the man advantage is to the sustained success of the hockey club.

“That’s all you guys were talking to me about was the damn power play,” Vigneault joked. “The power play is about good personnel. You need a skill set, but there’s also certain things as far as establishing your shot, making sure you have a net presence… right now we’re executing but it’s got to continue.”