Regarding the Rangers, whose 6-3-2 record essentially mirrors last season’s 6-2-3 at this juncture, with Adam Fox saying, “We’re probably playing better than we were at this time last year.”:
1. Head coach Gerard Gallant has been awarding unusually top-heavy ice time to his top six forwards while cutting down his bench earlier and earlier.
Perhaps this has been influenced to a certain extent by Filip Chytil’s unavailability the past five games and early departure from the preceding match after sustaining a suspected concussion against Columbus on Oct. 23, but this trend may not be sustainable over the 82-game marathon.
In Tuesday’s 1-0 overtime victory over the Flyers, bottom-six wingers Jimmy Vesey, Julien Gauthier, Sammy Blais and Ryan Reaves played between 7:51 and 9:00. Gauthier had one shift the first 9:29 of the third period, Vesey did not get on the ice for the first 9:26 of the period, while Blais got three shifts worth 2:15 in the third and Reaves got 1:47 over his third-period spins.
Meanwhile, Mika Zibanejad is averaging 21:16 of ice time, 1:38 more than last year’s 19:38. Chris Kreider is at 20:06, 1:22 above last season’s 18:44. Artemi Panarin’s 20:37 represents a 1:24 increase from last year’s 19:13. Vincent Trocheck’s 21:01 is 2:42 higher than Ryan Strome’s 18:19. (Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko have also received significant bumps in ice time, going from 13:59 to 16:37 and 15:27 to 16:19, respectively.)
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant (inset) has played Mika Zibanejad and the players on the top two lines more than he did last year to start the season.Getty Images (2)2. Everyone loves to watch the artistic Rangers power play and marvels over the picturesque goals that result from the first unit’s creativity. But, blasphemy alert, the power play needs to be much more effective, even if less highlight-reel worthy.
The team has gone without a power-play goal in five of its 11 games, with a 1-2-2 record in those matches following Tuesday’s victory over Philadelphia in which the unit went 0-for-3. That’s not good enough as the team puts its three-game win streak on the line Thursday at the Garden against 9-1-0 Boston.
And though they are hitting at a 22.0 percent rate with the man-advantage, that ranks 17th in this league — in which eight teams are at 25 percent or better and three are over 30 percent. That’s not even close to good enough from a team that ranked fourth in the NHL at 25.2 percent last season.
Is it possible that it all comes down to Kreider’s shooting percentage off his net-front work? Last year while leading the league with 26 PPGs, No. 20 scored on an elevated 39.39 percent of his shots. Thus far, Kreider has one PPG off a 5.88 shooting percentage.
“When we’re in the offensive zone for 1:30 and are getting our looks, it’s easy to get frustrated but we can’t afford that,” said Fox, whose average ice time has increased 38 seconds to 24:32 (10 seconds under his 2020-21 Norris Trophy year). “How many of Kreids’ 26 were tips and rebounds? If we continue to go about it the right way, the puck will go in.”
The Rangers have had 67:15 with the man-advantage. The Five Horsemen — not pestilence and all that, but instead, Zibanejad, Kreider, Panarin, Trocheck and Fox — have amassed between 51:40 and 52:40 of power-play time apiece.
The Blueshirts have not gotten a goal from a forward on the second unit since David Quinn was behind the bench.
3. Blais is back, but not yet at full strength after undergoing surgery to repair the right knee ACL tear he sustained after incurring his season-ending injury Nov. 15. That is understandable. It often takes a full season of play to fully rebound. Blais’ physical condition may be the reason why the Blueshirts abandoned their plan so quickly to give No. 91 a shot on the top unit with Zibanejad and Kreider.
Sammy BlaisGetty Images“Some days are better than others, but I feel really good,” Blais told The Post following practice. “I think I’m on a good path.”
Blais did not get a fourth-line assignment in his 14 games last season. But that’s where he has been slotted for the past six of his eight overall contests.
“I’m happy to be in that role,” the winger said. “I’m bringing a physical aspect to it, I’m getting in for hits and I’m bringing energy to the team. That’s a role I’ve had in the past. I’m working hard and trying to be my best on every shift.
“I want to do whatever the team needs.”
Gallant acknowledged the challenge that is confronting the 26-year-old pending unrestricted free agent.
“Sammy’s frustrated but the last three games he’s a lot happier,” the coach said. “He’s playing better and he feels better. But again, we’ve talked about it, he was out for 11 months or whatever and he’s played eight games now. So I’m happy with it.
“He’s getting better. He’s playing better. It’s going to take him some time. He just can’t get frustrated. Things aren’t going to happen overnight for him. I like the direction he’s going in right now. We talked about that [Tuesday]. We like what he’s doing. He’s working hard and his game is going to get better and better.”
