Despite going through some struggles, Mike Sullivan remains committed to the five-forward power-play unit.
During the New York Rangers’ 3-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, the five-forward first power-play unit gave up a shorthanded goal, which led to an adjustment from Sullivan, putting Scott Morrow on that first group to add a defenseman.
Prior to that adjustment, the all-forward experiment was not succeeding, as they went 0-10 on the man advantage.
Morrow’s presence didn’t necessarily make matters any better though. In his short time on the first power-play unit, Morrow turned over the puck, nearly leading to another Chicago shorthanded goal.
Sullivan kept five forwards on the first power-play unit with a couple of slight tweaks to the exact set up and personnel during Friday’s practice.
Alexis Lafrenière took Will Cuylle’s place playing the net-front role, while Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin swapped positions, with Zibanejad playing at the point and Panarin playing at the flank.
“I think Mika might add a little bit more of a defensive conscience up there. One of the things that I've always admired about Mika is his willingness on both sides of the puck,” Sullivan said. “I think he brings a (defensive) element there, and I think that's important when we're on the power play using five forwards. That was one of the risks that we were obviously willing to take with the group that we had based on our roster right now and where it's at.
“We talked about Mika potentially going up there from day one – the day when Foxy got injured and we were looking to replace him on the power play. We felt like probably our two best options were Bread and Mika. We spent a fair amount of time trying to make it work with Bread. We're going to make this adjustment and see where it goes.”
Sullivan still feels that utilizing five forwards on the power play until Adam Fox returns from an upper-body injury is the best course of action even though it hasn’t been translated into goals up to this point.
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“We think they're the best five guys right now to help us have success,” Sullivan emphasized. “We moved them in different positions. We made some adjustments. There were a number of adjustments that we made based on what we see.”
Vladislav Gavrikov practiced on the second power-play unit, indicating that he’ll slot into that role on Saturday night when the Rangers face off against the Montreal Canadiens.
Morrow didn’t take any power-play reps on Friday, and he’s slated to serve as a healthy scratch for Saturday’s matchup, with Urho Vaakanainen taking his place.