Rangers' special teams in playoffs may lead to a special season
New York Rangers left wings Chris Kreider (20) and Jimmy Vesey (26), center Jack Roslovic (96) and other players react to center Vincent Trocheck's (16) game-winning goal in the second overtime in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York. The Rangers won 4-3. Credit: AP/Julia Nikhinson
GREENBURGH — The numbers are cartoonish, and certainly not sustainable.
Right?
We shall see about that in the days and perhaps weeks to come. But for now, the Rangers’ special teams performance in their second-round playoff series against the Hurricanes has been extraordinary — and the primary reason they lead it, 2-0.
“Obviously, that part of the game is going well right now,” captain Jacob Trouba said late Tuesday night, after the Rangers’ 4-3 double-overtime victory in Game 2.
That is an understatement.
The Rangers tied the score at 3 with a power-play goal by Chris Kreider in the third period. Then they won the game with a power-play goal by Vincent Trocheck 7:24 into double overtime.
If you’re keeping score at home, that makes the Rangers 4-for-9 on power plays in the series against a Hurricanes penalty kill that led the NHL in the regular season at 86.4%.
In Game 1, the Rangers were 2-for-2 on power plays and required a total of 23 seconds to convert those chances. They are 10-for-25 overall in the playoffs.
The Hurricanes were 0-for-5 on power plays in Game 2, making them an even 0-for-10 in the two games at Madison Square Garden. They ranked second in the NHL on power plays in the regular season at 26.9%. (The Rangers were third at 26.4%.)
“I think there’s a confidence throughout the penalty kill,” Barclay Goodrow said on Wednesday before the team left for Game 3 in Raleigh on Thursday night. “A big part of that is obviously Shesty [goalie Igor Shesterkin] . . . When you have a goalie like that that’s kind of anchoring the whole unit, that provides an extra sense of comfort and confidence throughout everyone.”
The Hurricanes realize they have a problem here. “Everyone in the room knows our special teams have to get better," captain Jordan Staal said after Game 2.
The Rangers’ reputation all season has been overreliance on power-play goals over five-on-five ones. It is one reason the Hurricanes were favored entering the series by oddsmakers and analytics geeks alike.
The theory is that not only are special teams an unpredictable route to success, but also that in the playoffs referees become more reluctant to blow whistles.
That was the way it used to work in hockey, but it certainly has not worked that way so far.
In Game 2, there was a penalty on Carolina with 1:38 left in regulation time, then one in each overtime period against the Rangers and finally the backbreaker — a cross-checking call on the Hurricanes’ Brady Skjei 6:37 into the second overtime.
It hardly was a violent act against Trocheck, and it was the sort of play in which referees would have looked away in that situation for most of the past century.
Not this time.
When asked whether the Rangers might be going down a little too easily on some of these fouls to draw calls, Staal said, “Good question.”
Then he hesitated before going on: “I mean, good question. It is what it is . . . It’s hard for us to know how hard guys hit other guys, and it is what it is.”
Trocheck made the Hurricanes pay, another triumph for the No. 1 unit of Kreider, Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox.
So much for that stuff about relying too much on special teams. It is akin to a baseball team being viewed as a playoff liability because it relies too heavily on home runs. But what if it just keeps hitting home runs? Problem solved.
If this is the way NHL playoff games are to be officiated, perhaps the Rangers can win 10 more games relying on their extra-man prowess. There were 14 penalties called in Game 2.
“We’ve got to definitely be sharper,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of his power-play unit. “We’ve got to get inside. We’re all on the outside. That’s just not how we do it.”
Trouba said of the special teams dominance, “That can change. Obviously, we’d like it to stay this way, but I don’t think you want to rely on it or want to win games strictly that way.”
Maybe not, but so far, so good.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.