Rangers vs Stars – 1.13.23 – PowerPlay Review

I have been meaning to cover some PowerPlays for sometime and today I had the opportunity to do so, I have just simply been busy.

What I tried to do was pause in spots where I can review what options and looks I see versus what the Rangers do/did.

What I saw and learned:

Good things:

* Fox is at a whole different level, he creates options that were unavailable, what an incredible skill he has. We already knew this, but seeing the ice frozen and watching him do his thing is absolute magic.
* They have the skill to make the difficult plays, that’s **mostly** a good thing

Bad things:

It comes down to two main problems in my opinion

* Movement – too often four guys are standing around and not moving, two of their best chances came from the times they did move. Movement forces guys to keep their head on a swivel and move with you, causing disjointed boxes, diamonds and confusion. When you don’t move, defenders can cut off the easy lanes.
* Keeping it simple – this is why I said the skill to make the difficult play is mostly good. It’s nice to have it in your quiver, but the Rangers seemingly refuse to use the other arrows, the simple plays are freaking there. The amount of times Panarin, or anyone else had Laf’s stick available was kind of mind blowing, the Stars were giving them the easy plays very often, and on the final PP, the best chance came from Fox taking a simple shot that caused a scramble.

Now this speaks in some part to coaching as well and goes back to “they’re too good to be broken up.” Here is why that quote should scare the shit out of everyone. They refuse to make the simple plays, and Gallant should be telling them to make those plays and at a certain point, demanding it. If they do not make those plays when they have the chances, the very simple move is bench the guys that will not listen and add plays that will.

Instead, he basically said, nah, they can do whatever they want with impunity. I am all for creativity, it gives the opponent more to defend, but if you always default that way, they still have to defend against two tools, just different tools.

That’s the simplest explanation I can apply to the PP woes they currently have. They’re trying to force things out there and not taking what the defense gives them.

Another way to word it, is if you watch the NFL, think of a QB refusing to take the open 5 yard checkdown pass that is wide open, in favor of trying to hit a bomb the defense has covered.

Yes, go for the deep ball sometimes, but when teams have learned that’s what you do, take the easy ass check down, please!

This is a long video, fair warning.

Link: [https://youtu.be/zzXrfON3evU](https://youtu.be/zzXrfON3evU)

EDIT: I am suggesting any single one of these players can be or should be benched and watch the PP from there. The only counterargument I have received to the is, “you never bench a guy like Panarin that’s just stupid”.

Yes you do: [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/21/sports/hockey-leetch-is-the-latest-ranger-to-feel-the-wrath-of-keenan.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/21/sports/hockey-leetch-is-the-latest-ranger-to-feel-the-wrath-of-keenan.html)

Every player should have expectations and be held to them, no person at any point should not be held accountable, the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, is what matters.