The God Damn Power Play
As TheNYRBlog's Adam Herman tweeted after the second period of Saturday's Rangers/Leafs game, the below picture says a thousand words...
Yeah, one for each failed power play during the John Tortorella/Mike Sullivan era.
After going 0-for-4 with the man advantage against Toronto the Rangers are now 2-for-22 on the power play to start the season. That's a paltry 9.1% and good for 27th in the league.
There are a ton of things wrong with the power play. Lack of player and puck movement, no one in front of the net, not being able to spread penalty killers out and, gee, what's that last one? I can't seem to remember what else they're forgetting on the power play, oh yeah...
And while watching the Rangers power play will likely make you want to do shots, the real issue is that for some insane reason the Blueshirts are refusing to do the hockey version of it.
Last week in Philadelphia they had just TWO shots on net during a full two minute 5-on-3. You almost have to try to do that. And then Saturday night, while I thought they were much better with Richards off the point, when you don't even register a shot on goal during a power play (3rd pp of the night) you're not getting enough rubber towards the net.
What's the Wayne Gretzky saying? " You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." That couldn't be more appropriate than with the Rangers power play.
There is absolutely no reason that a power play which features Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik and Rick Nash should have a success rate under 10%. That's inexcusable.
Which brings me back to the above picture. At some point, Sullivan is going to have to be held responsible for this abomination of a Rangers power play. Not sure if Torts yelling at him between periods is the first evidence of strain in their relationship, but it was more than interesting to witness.
And yes, I know Sullivan isn't the one out on the ice not shooting. However, over the last three and a half years we've seen a lot of power play personnel come and go, but one thing has remained the same and it isn't Rangers fans screaming for Torts to decline the two-minute advantage.
Remember to follow me on Twitter & Facebook or e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
wtf anyway !!!! shoot the f**king puck ##### from what i've seen so far little benn ( the scamperer ) might just add a little life to the PP.
I think the solution is actually pretty simple. Step 1 is to not have anyone on the Power Play who also plays the penalty kill. Then just have them practice on each other.
Hank/Girardi/McD/Callahan/Boyle vs. DZ/Staal/Nash/Richards/Gaborik.
A clear out of the zone is a point for the PK, a goal is a point for the PP.
Max 1 minute shifts, 20 reps, losing team does some sort of tortous Tortorella skating drill for each point they lose by.
Redden has more goals in fewer games than Del Zotto so far this season.
Just saying......
Oh, and Avery has the same amount of goals this season as Dubinsky.
@Beckfan5 I know there's a lot of DZ hate. But I think he's been great this year! His shot has been making it on goal. I think for the most part he's been ok defensively. I love what he's brining to the team this year.
@GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG @Beckfan5 He was great Saturday night. Needs more consistency though.
@KevinDeLury @Beckfan5 He's still a kid. He will get there. His stretch passes have been crisp, his defensive stick play has been really good, and he on net with his shots...kinda. I give him high marks so far.
@Beckfan5 Yep, and Redden has more goals than Malkin too. That and $12 will get you a beer at the Garden.
I imagine Sully runs the PK I'm not totally 100% on what his responsibilities are, but if the PK is his then he's a defensive genius. That being said, we have to get someone to address the PP. It's almost laughable. Our guys grip the sticks so tight and hold onto the puck so long that the other teams PK spreads out so much that we don't even get a look. Also, when you have a shooting lane...TAKE THE SHOT! Don't pass it so that someone else can take the blame for a failed PP. No one is going to yell at you for not scoring as long as you shoot!
Any statisticians out there? I'm pretty sure that the teams that won the cup in the last 20 seasons have been in the top 20% in the league on PP and not in the bottom 20% It's an obvious time ion a game where we can give hank some goal support and it has not been there for years. In fact I think we've given up more short handed goals than most teams in the last few seasons, but I'm not a statistician.
@chrisD Not a statistician, but the last 4 Cup winners were middle of the pack PPs and actually below the league average. Hell, the Devils were at or near the bottom for 2 of their 3 Cups. It doesn't look like there'
s a big link between winning the Cup and having a good PP, it just helps us fans get through the regular season a little easier ;-)
@chrisD I think the Bruins might have been the exception. I think I remember their power play was hideous.
2 Like
The Rangers' PP has not broken the top 10 since 06'-07' season and has been mediocre to bad since the last 2 years that Leetch was with the Rangers (he only played 50+ games each of those 2 years). Contrary, when Leetch was manning the point, the PP was consistently in the top 10 and mostly in the top 5 of the league. I think Sullivan can bear some of the blame, but the biggest issue to me is a true QB on the point. And that's not to say we need Weber or Chara blasting 100+ mph bombs (but it would be nice), but we need someone to actually RUN the PP. Leetch never had a great point shot, but it was accurate and I have never seen anyone better than him at keeping the puck in the zone. That is bigger than any shot from back there because it doesn't allow the penalty killers to change and gives the attacking team more time to set up. I don't know why Leetch is not helping out with teaching that. Maybe he's pissed at Sather for trading him and doesn't want to give him the satisfaction, or maybe it's just that Torts hasn't wanted to usurp Sullivan. But when you have an all-time great PP QB and you don't use him at least a little to teach your 22 year old potential QB of the future, you are doing a disservice to your fans and the 22 year old.
@gravey94 I can't agree more - why can't we get someone who can hold the puck in the zone instead of giving up so many short handed chances! Leetch is such an asset - take advantage of his knowledge and experience! Crashing the net and shooting once in a while might help too.... Just saying.
I like sully a lot but you need to bring someone else is or do something. Its an absolute joke how bad the power play is. they dont take shots and they dont spread the opposition out, theres no screens, no rebounds no delfections. Its a joke. they would have either won or got a point off philly if their power play was somewhat fictional. Bring someone in, its not like it counts against the cap.
If the CT Whale has Beukeboom mentoring D-men, the Rangers should have assistant coach Brian Leetch running the PP
I've said this before, but I still can't figure out why we only have one assistant coach. Work as hard or as much as you want, be as smart as you can be, you still can't convince me that at this level of hockey Mike Sullivan is somehow more knowledgeable than any other two assistants in the league combined. And that's not a knock at him, even if he's the best by leaps and bounds, couldn't we be better prepared and informed if we brought in someone who was a close 2nd, and maybe, just maybe, could do nothing else but make a power play work?
@johnnyb3910 Not disagreeing with you on Sullivan but the Ranger do have two - Schoenfeld is an assistant coach. He just isn't on the bench during games. But I do believe he works with the team during practice.
@johnnyb3910 because torts sucks and is a total micro manager and control freak. Any success e has had here is product of Henrik. Just cause he talks tough people seem to mistake that as genius to me it's just a bully trying to deflect attention from his incompetence. Like the article states it's been three plus years of poor power play not three weeks. Look at Hitchcock with Blues as Redden playing 20 minutes a night and a rookie Tarkensco as key player for Stanley Cup contender. Redden while overpaid once he was buried was never going to get another chance and Krieder was playing nine minutes a game for three games before he was benched. Team will never take next step with Torts because if he had hisway he would have roster full of Brian Boyle types.
1 Like
@Chriserwin @johnnyb3910 You know the Rangers were in the Eastern Conference Finals last year, right.
@KevinDeLury @johnnyb3910 yes they were but could have easily been knocked out in the first round. They had a career year from henrik and ton of puck luck. Not saying you don't create luck with hard work but you don't always get it. Habs and flyers were in finals a few years ago also and flyers in cup finals. Habs have sucked since and flyers blew up its team.
