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The loss of an all-situations player like Adam Fox naturally impacts the look of several parts of the Rangers’ game, but the power play in particular could be uniquely affected.
Instead of replacing Fox with another defenseman, head coach Peter Laviolette had five forwards skating on the Blueshirts’ first power-play unit in practice Thursday.
Because J.T. Miller was sidelined for the day due to illness, the top group was made up of Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière.
“It does happen,” Laviolette said of the alignment. “There’s been a lot of teams that have used five forwards before. We’re just getting a look at it to see what that looked like. It’s good. If it did go that way — I don’t know that we are or we aren’t, but if it did go that way — I feel like Mika is somebody who can read positions and read that spot and be able to manage that.”
It’s possible Miller would replace either Lafrenière or Trocheck on the first unit Friday against the Maple Leafs.
Regardless, Laviolette sounded comfortable deploying a power play with all forwards.
The second unit featured two defenseman in K’Andre Miller and Zac Jones, in addition to Reilly Smith, Jonny Brodzinski and Will Cuylle.
Prior to Thursday night’s slate of games, the Rangers power play was ranked 19th in the NHL at 21.1.
Since Jan. 1, however, the Blueshirts have ranked ninth with a 27.7 percentage.
Miller, who suffered a lower-body injury against the Islanders, wore a red non-contact jersey during practice Thursday.
He also took his regular reps next to Will Borgen, indicating he could be good to go Friday night against the Maple Leafs.
Additionally, Kreider was a full participant in practice after missing the past two games with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
“Really happy about that, that [Miller] made it out there,” Laviolette said. “Kreids, the same thing. We’ll make those decisions tomorrow. It’s just great to have those guys out there ”
The Rangers’ 47 hits against the Islanders counted as the most in a game since March 9, 2021, at Pittsburgh (58). It marked the fourth-highest hit total in the NHL this season.
After Friday’s game against the Maple Leafs, the Rangers will hold practice on Saturday at MSG Training Center before they continue the homestand against the Predators and Islanders.
