Rangers' Erik Gustafsson added to second power-play unit

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette has made the point several times since the regular season began that the lines and defense combinations he’s used for the first few games have been a “starting point,’’ implying that things can change as the season progresses.

And, as the Rangers play their fourth game of the young season Thursday at Madison Square Garden against the Nashville Predators, Laviolette has already made a couple of small adjustments in his player personnel groupings, one of which involves tweaking the second-power play unit.

“We're going to work through things,’’ Laviolette said after the Rangers’ practice on Wednesday. “I think that, at some point, players are right on top of their game, and then sometimes they're finding it. And we'll move guys in and out, if we see things based on five-on-five play, or somebody does get an opportunity on the power play. Even the units, there's a chance that they could mix up as well.’’

Against the Predators, the first power-play unit remained intact, with Adam Fox running the point, and Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider completing the five-man group. But Laviolette added defenseman Erik Gustafsson to the second unit, replacing forward Blake Wheeler. 

Some teams like to have a second defenseman on the second unit, since that group normally plays the last 30 to 40 seconds of a power play, and this way, when the power play expires and the opposing team gets back to full strength, they aren’t caught with one defenseman and four forwards on the ice.

Gustafsson’s addition, though, doesn’t only change the look of the unit because it adds a second defenseman. Gustafsson is a lefthanded shot, where Wheeler is righthanded. So now, with Gustafsson, K’Andre Miller, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafrenière, the second unit has all lefthanders on it.

“Yeah, that’s something you have to practice, first of all, and then kind of get to know each other out there,’’ Gustafsson said. “But I've seen a lot of good power plays that you only have lefties in it.’’

The normal setup is for Gustafsson to be at the point, with Miller moving to the right wing, or “half-wall,’’ as it’s called. Kakko sets up on the left half-wall, with Chytil in the slot (“the bumper’’) and Lafrenière at the net-front. They start that way, anyway, but the players all move around and exchange positions, Gustafsson said.

“You have a lot of threats coming in,’’ he said. “When you play on the ‘PK,’ and you know the ‘PP’ is moving around a lot, and moving the puck quick, and shooting, then it's chaos. That's what we're trying to do.’’

Getting Gustafsson time on the power play is an indication of how highly Laviolette thinks of the 31-year-old Swede, who played for him last season in Washington. When Ryan Lindgren missed last Saturday’s game in Columbus, Laviolette elevated Gustafsson to the top defense pair with Fox, and Gustafsson’s 21:56 of ice time was the second-most ice time (behind Fox) on the team. 

And Gustafsson, who had seven goals and 42 points last season for Washington and Toronto and then signed a one-year, $825,000 contract with the Rangers over the summer, said playing for Laviolette was one of the things that drew him to the Rangers.

Laviolette is happy to have him.

“Gus does a really good job, from a defensive standpoint, of being able to defend with his feet, [and use] his hockey sense,’’ Laviolette said. “When he does get pucks, he's a good skating defenseman. He makes a good first pass. I think he controls the power play really well [and] he's the type of player that I think just proves on a nightly basis that he can do a lot on the ice, for himself, for your team, and for others — his defensive mate, the forwards. There's things that he brings to the table that help the team be successful.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.