Rangers need to work out power-play kinks

After coming up empty on five power-play opportunities Tuesday night against the Capitals, the Rangers are now 1-for-14 with the man-advantage in their last three games.

Keeping the puck in the offensive zone has not been the problem. Neither has maintaining possession or setting themselves up in scoring positions. Their most notable issue on the power play was on full display against the Capitals, who pushed the Rangers to the perimeter and allowed them to fall into their habitual ways that don’t always produce the most effective shots.

“I think we’re open to trying a few new things,” Adam Fox told The Post of the first power-play unit’s ability to work through the kinks, considering four out of the members of that group have been playing together for so long. “I don’t think we want to get stuck in our ways. Obviously, other teams are scouting us and trying to adjust, so I think we’ve got to adjust too. We try to throw some different looks, some of them work, some of them haven’t.

“As long as you’re not letting any frustration creep in, a lot of teams go through slumps on power plays, they go through hot streaks on power plays, it’s a little tough to judge. I think as long as we’re getting looks, can’t let frustration get in there.”

Head coach Gerard Gallant’s commitment to the first unit of Fox, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck has only made the streaks without production that much more noticeable. It’s not just the personnel, but the imbalance of ice time between the Rangers’ two power-play units.

There’s no question the top unit is a collection of the club’s elite talent — and when they’re on, they’re so on — but maybe a change or two could do the Rangers some good. Whether the adjustment is in the set plays they look for or their general approach, the Rangers need to figure out how to fully unlock their power play.

“When it’s good, Foxy shoots a couple pucks, you get some deflections in front of the net and then that opens up the side plays for Mika and Bread,” Gallant said. “You just can’t go to the same two plays all the time and expect they’re going to work. You’ve got to do the little things in front of the net and you’ve got to battle.

“What is [the Rangers’ current power-play percentage]? [21.9] percent? It’s not a bad number, but with that talent, we should be better than that and we know that. Sure, they hit some goalposts, but you’ve got to put the puck in the net and that’s the bottom line.”

Opponents are always well aware of how effective the Rangers can be on the power play. This leaves little room for success for the Rangers when there’s no element of surprise. More often than not, Zibanejad has been covered in his spot in the left faceoff circle. Every member of the first unit is a righty shot, so with Panarin in the right circle, there’s zero potential for a scoring threat there.

Asked if he has considered inserting a lefty to give the Rangers a bettersuited weapon on the other side, Gallant said he wasn’t worried.

“No,” he said. “These guys are too good to put somebody else in there.”