Rangers working hard on fixing their biggest weakness

PUBLICATION

Ryan Hall
April 15, 2024 (2:02 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

The Rangers have one more game in this regular season and even though the team has won a record number of wins at 54 and have looked like a cup contender, the team is working hard on solving their biggest weakness that has plagued them all year which is five on five scoring.

Head coach Peter Laviolette explained during his press conference that this issue is front and centre for the team to work on as this kind of scoring is vital for any team to progress through the NHL playoffs and to the Stanley Cup final.

«In five-on-five work, we're pushing, we're looking,» head coach Peter Laviolette said. «There's a lot of chances. Without much power-play time, there's 93 attempts at the net tonight. We're in the offensive zone, we're looking for it, it's just not dropping maybe as easily as we would like. There were some good chances, especially early on. We just couldn't capitalize on them.»

«We're getting the looks, so that makes me feel good about that, but we also need to bury them.»

What's more concerning is that during playoff hockey, teams try to avoid penalties as much as possible not to give the other team that advantage.

If the Rangers are solely relying on power play goals in order to achieve their offence and the team had gone 174 minutes without a five on five goal recently there's certainly major concern.

It'll depend on what Laviolette will do whether it's changing the lines or inserting certain players into the top two lines to help ignite the offence.

The team still has a few days to wait until they know who their first round opponent is and they will continue to practice to improve this stat.