No team has scored fewer goals through the first month of the season than the Rangers and no team has had a more ineffective power play.
So even though the Rangers had a three-game winning streak prior to another home loss to Carolina on Tuesday, coach Mike Sullivan decided it was time to make some changes in an attempt to finally get their offense going in the right direction.
Among the switches is Will Cuylle moving to the top power-play unit, where he’ll replace Alexis Lafrenière.
Cuylle also skated on a line with Lafrenière and Noah Laba during Thursday’s practice in Tarrytown as the Rangers prepared for Friday’s game in Detroit, while the struggling Artemi Panarin was with Mika Zibanejad and Taylor Raddysh.
And they remain with Vincent Trocheck (upper body), who practiced again Thursday with a noncontact jersey and is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve, but won’t play Friday.
Asked about the most recent alterations, Sullivan — who hinted there would likely be tweaks to the power play following the dud against the Hurricanes — acknowledged his team isn’t getting enough done offensively.
“Because we haven’t had a comfort level with our production,” Sullivan said. “Isn’t that obvious? It’s not that we haven’t created offense or generated opportunities. We have. We have to find ways to score goals, so we’re trying to do everything we can, as far as being proactive, to try to help these guys.”
The moves are the result of what’s been an inconsistent start for the Rangers, who are 6-1-1 on the road, but dropped their first six games at home for the first time in franchise history (0-5-1 at Madison Square Garden).
They head to Detroit having won three straight on the road and have scored better away from home as well.
But they look at their issues at home as more of a coincidence than a real problem and are instead focused on their style of play, something Sullivan noted again Thursday.
“I just think we’ve got to fight harder for the net front,’’ the coach said. “It’s not that we’re not there. We are. But I think we can be there more. And I think when we get there, we can have different intentions.”
He’s looking for more physicality and “embracing contact to own the real estate” in order to make opposing goaltenders’ jobs harder.
And the plan is also based on analytics, according to Sullivan.
He’s looking for more activity by the net in order to create more broken plays in traffic.
“The conversion rate on those types of goals the past few seasons is very high,’’ Sullivan said of being able to jump on loose pucks when there’s chaos in front of the net. “I think we can do a better job in that aspect of manufacturing offense and going to the net more consistently,’’ Sullivan said.
That’s where Cuylle comes in.
“Playing the net front in five-on-five or the power play, there might be an assumption it’s a non-skill position, when in reality it’s a very skilled position, with a lot of subtleties and … usually there’s a cost going there and you pay a price physically,’’ Sullivan said. “I think Will has all the attributes to be that guy. He’s talented, got a good stick, he’s big, strong [and] hard to handle.”
The concept, Sullivan hopes, leads to more scoring.
“They’re not highlight goals,’’ Sullivan said of the hard-fought goals in front of the net. “But they all count the same.”
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