#David Quinn: Specialty teams will be key for Rangers vs. Hurricanes

It was largely an exercise of muscle memory when the Rangers ran power-play and penalty-kill drills to bookend Friday’s practice but there was more to it than that.

Because when it all starts in two weeks, the work of the specialty teams will be critical in the best-of-five against Carolina, against whom the Blueshirts went 5-for-15 on the power play while killing 14 of 16 in the four-game regular-season sweep.

“It really can be the difference in winning a series,” David Quinn said. “Obviously our numbers look good against them but, you know, numbers can sometimes be deceiving. There are things we can take from the games we played against them but we’re going to have to reset everything and be ready to go.

“It’s just a whole different ball of wax right now. We have to make sure that we’re thorough and have clarity as what is expected of our penalty kill [and power play].”

The power play, that was on a 29-for-90 tear over 31 games from Dec. 27 through March 7 before going 0-for-9 in the final three matches, features the four-righty look with Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider (lefty), Ryan Strome and Tony DeAngelo on the first unit, with Pavel Buchnevich, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba on the second.

“In a playoff series there’s no time to really be hot and cold. You really want to try and execute,” Strome said. “I think the biggest thing is practice right now. This was our first day and I think if you ask the coaches, this might have been the best we moved the puck in a practice all year, so obviously that’s a great sign.”

---

It all seems so routine on the ice. But in the room where the team prepares for practice, or before they get to that room, there are differences, even if not all that many.

“We have an app from the NHL [and a questionnaire] that we have to fill out in the morning, we have a thermometer [to take temperature] that we have to do,” Strome said. “We come to the rink wearing a mask and then we get checked for temperature and symptoms. Every other day we have to sit in the parking lot and do our COVID test before we enter the arena.

“When we go to the [cafeteria], we take [premade] food and have to eat it outside. That’s obviously unique but the rest of it is kind of normal. We have to follow the proper protocols but with the whole team being tested so much and we’re kind of like a family here in our own little bubble that when we’re working out or on the ice, everything is pretty normal.

“There’s nothing too crazy,” the center said. “All these things with masks and protocols, we’re sacrificing maybe five or 10 minutes of our day to live a pretty normal life. So I think guys are pretty happy with the way things are going and we’ve been pretty lucky with our test results.

“We’ve just got to keep doing the right things and stay healthy and hopefully we can continue to play hockey.”