Rangers' Fox: Power-play struggles 'the difference right now'

The New York Rangers are 2-for-42 on the power play in their past 15 games, a fact defenseman Adam Fox believes is a primary reason the team hasn't won enough games.

"It's the difference right now, right?" Fox said after New York's 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, according to the New York Post's Mollie Walker. "The margin is so thin. I think five-on-five, we've been pretty good. You let up shorthanded goals, you let up power-play goals against, (and) you lose games by one-to-two (goals). Tie five-on-five or even win the five-on-five game, it's costing us. It has been for a little bit now."

Since March 3, New York has outscored opponents 33-28 at five-on-five but has lost the special teams battle 14-7. With another shorthanded goal allowed against New Jersey, the Rangers have given up more shorthanded markers (three) than they have scored power-play goals (two) in this span.

Forward Mika Zibanejad believes the power play has been a yearlong issue.

"It's the whole season," Zibanejad said, according to USA Today Sports' Vince Mercogliano. "We're close to dead last. That's not good enough."

The Rangers' power play has operated at a 17.2% clip in 2024-25 to rank 27th in the NHL.

Fox believes the man-advantage struggles have been compounding game by game.

"The execution is certainly not there, but I think when you go on one of those slumps, you start maybe trying to force the issue a little more," Fox said, per Walker. "I think it could be a reason we're even giving up chances more than ever, too. It's not that we're not scoring, it's we're not even generating any momentum from it."

Head coach Peter Laviolette suggested the shorthanded chances against are caused by the power play trying too hard to break through.

"We're looking for something offensively, maybe pressing too much," Laviolette said, according to Walker. "Any time you're doing that, you're subject to get caught the other way."

The Rangers remain two points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.