It didn’t take long after Adam Fox’s shoulder injury for his absence on the power play to — again — become glaring. The Rangers had just started to make strides with their first unit after struggling to start the year before Fox exited their Nov. 29 loss to the Lightning and didn’t return for a month.
But in two games with Fox back in the lineup, the Blueshirts already have collected three goals in four opportunities — with the defenseman collecting one Wednesday before Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin followed two days later in the Winter Classic.
The Rangers entered Sunday’s games ranked 12th in the NHL in power-play percentage (21.2) after opening the season as one of the NHL’s worst units.
With the Rangers needing to keep pace in a packed Eastern Conference as they attempt to climb toward a postseason berth during the second half of the season, they’ll need to rely on continuing to maximize their man-advantage opportunities, and Fox’s return, even with a small sample size for now, already has paid dividends.
“Special teams play a big role in their ability to influence the outcomes,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after the Rangers practiced Sunday ahead of their home game Monday against the Mammoth. “… [Fox is] an elite power-play defenseman. His ability to see the ice. His poise with the puck. His panic threshold. He doesn’t throw pucks away. Just his ability to hold onto a puck, to move laterally, to scale the blue line, change his angle opens things up for himself and others.”
“And I think that’s what makes him unique. That’s why he’s such a difficult player to replace up there when we don’t have him, so I don’t think there’s any doubt that the power play can be a difference-making aspect of our overall team game. The most recent games are evidence of that.”
When Fox missed time, the Rangers experimented with a five-forward setup and watched as that turned into a disaster. They tested Scott Morrow with the first line, too. And while they’re still without an injured J.T. Miller, even just the presence of Fox — who has collected 28 points in 29 games this season and was just snubbed from the United States Winter Olympics roster — has sparked a power-play group that collectively went 6-for-39 across the 14 games without him.
He stepped into a one-timer from just inside the point late in the second period of Wednesday’s loss, ripping a shot past Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Then, the goals from the Blueshirts forwards followed in Miami. Sullivan said the unit hasn’t “seemed to miss a beat.”
And with the Rangers struggling to produce goals at times, especially while at the Garden, a resurgent power play could help ignite their offensive production.
“When he got hurt, it forced a lot of decisions and putting different players in different spots,” Sullivan said, “and I think it shows you the impact that Foxy has on our power play, his ability to settle things down.”
Noah Laba, week to week with an upper-body injury, skated on his own for the Rangers. Miller, out since Dec. 20 with an upper-body injury, practiced in a red noncontact jersey for the second consecutive session.
The next Rangers win will mark the 500th of Sullivan’s career.
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