The Rangers lost a key part of their offensive engine on the power play and also lost a confidence-boosting penalty kill step.
It's been seven games since the Blueshirts last scored a power play goal, dating back to the second period of a 6-3 loss to the Jets on Nov. 12.
That's an alarming 0-for-14 for a part of the game they rely on so heavily.
“We're not scoring. They're not hitting right now,” head coach Peter Laviolette said at the end of a four-game road trip. “We've got the moves, we've got the looks. They're coming in, but it's not going to fall on us. We can be better. There's no question, we can be better.”
The Rangers, who fell to 15th in the NHL with a power-play percentage of 20.4, never seemed to respond to the man advantage.
As with 5-on-5, which is a problem for the Rangers, getting into the zone became a one-time opportunity.
Opponents too often split up the Rangers in transition, force them to the perimeter, and prevent a unit that has primarily skated together for years from connecting around the offensive zone.
Peter Laviolette has made some personnel changes, something the Rangers head coach hasn't had to make since taking over the team last year.
With Chris Kreider missing the past two games with back spasms, Alexis Lafreniere replaced the longest-tenured Ranger in PP1 along with Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox. .
The second group is young and vibrant with Brett Berard joining Will Quill, Zach Jones, Kaapo Kakko and Riley Smith.
In a 4-3 loss to the Hurricanes on Wednesday night, the Rangers lost the special teams battle, allowing two power-play goals on four man-advantage innings.
In the 6-2 loss to the Oilers, the Rangers allowed their first short goal of the season, which would only happen seven times in total in the 2023-24 season.
Will Quill has been on the score sheet in five of the Rangers' last six games, scoring four goals and three assists while playing on both the second power play unit and on the penalty kill.
The 22-year-old logged a career-high 19 minutes, 39 seconds of ice time on Wednesday night, recording one assist, two shots on target, two blocks and five hits in the loss.
