Dan Boyle was supposed to be the Rangers' answer to their power-play problem, and now he hardly can hold onto a spot.
The struggling 38-year-old defenseman has little choice but to get used to his new place on the Blueshirts' second man-advantage squad, getting demoted during the recent four-game road trip, culminating with a dramatic 6-5 win over the Islanders on Monday.
"It was more of trying to establish the shot a little bit more," is how coach Alain Vigneault described the move after Wednesday's practice, with his former team, the Canucks, coming into the Garden on Thursday for the start of a back-to-back and three games in four nights.
When Boyle signed his two-year, $9 million free-agent deal this offseason, the hope was his right-handed shot from the point could be just what the Rangers' perpetually maligned power play was looking for. It's been some time since the franchise has had that intimidating shot from the blue line.
Yet now trying to establish that precedent is captain Ryan McDonagh, a left-handed shot who will patrol the top of the zone, with his two flanks being forward Derek Stepan on one side and either Mats Zuccarello or Derick Brassard on the other. Rick Nash, that indomitable force, rounds out the group with a net-front presence.
"With Mac at the point, and with Step on one side and Zucc or Brass on the other, it seems like we can establish that shot a little bit quicker," said Vigneault, whose team was ranked 10th in the league (19.8 percent) going into Wednesday night's action.
The Rangers have had just six power plays over the past four games, and have scored on just one of them, an empty-netter from McDonagh in the waning minutes of Thursday's 6-3 win over the Avalanche in Denver.
"With Mac and Zucc [at the point], I like the way they moved it," Vigneault said. "They had a couple real good looks, shooting those one-timers. There were a couple different looks we wanted to try to use."
The Rangers have scored 22 goals in the current four-game winning streak, and Brassard thinks it partially is due to continuity in their lines.
"I think we're at the time in the season when guys are comfortable playing with each other," he said, having become comfortable with Zuccarello and Nash. "So I think that's a good sign for our team. We have four lines going right now. Everyone knows what to expect from each other. It's just clicking right now and hopefully it keeps going."
Kevin Klein is leading all Rangers' defensemen with both nine goals and 16 assists, including four game-winning goals. He's also second on the team with a plus-22 rating — second to only Nash's plus-23. It's also a rating that was good for second among all defensemen in the league, behind the Flames' T.J. Brodie's plus-24 going into Wednesday night.
"Defensively, he is exactly where I expected him," Vigneault said. "But nobody expected this offense. Probably he didn't expect it, either. This year, he's found a way to get the right spot with the right look."
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