No team has scored fewer goals than the Rangers have this season and no team has a worse power play than they do.
It’s added up to an offense that has been oddly bad, particularly at home, so the Rangers probably aren’t too upset that their next match comes Friday in Detroit.
And perhaps no one symbolizes the team’s lack of scoring recently more than Artemi Panarin, who had seven points (two goals and five assists) in the season’s first eight games and hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet once in his past six.
He had a terrific opportunity to score early in Tuesday’s loss to the Hurricanes, but was stopped, and hasn’t lacked chances, as Panarin has 22 shots on goal in the six-game scoring slump and had 19 in his first seven.
Despite the poor results, coach Mike Sullivan said Tuesday he was not inclined to change too much with Panarin’s approach because of the quality player he is, and that he’s been able to put the puck on net consistently.
“My experience in coaching players of his caliber is sometimes… you just have to be careful you don’t get in the way,’’ Sullivan said this week. “We’re trying to give him a lot of latitude with his offensive game. We share our observations with him, but those types of players, what makes them unique is they tend to think the game differently than others. That’s part of what makes them who they are. I’ve always been a strong believer that I try not to get in the way of that process.”
For Panarin, that’s a scorer that put up a career-high 49 goals just two seasons ago and followed up with his second-best number (37) a year ago.
And as he approaches free agency, his shooting percentage has plummeted to 4.9, down from his career mark of 14.5.
After opening the season with six straight goalless games, Panarin scored in back-to-back matches before entering his current six-game slump.
He went without a goal for at least six consecutive games twice last season, so Panarin could still rebound from this slow start.
But even in those droughts a year ago, he was picking up some assists along the way, something he hasn’t done in his past seven games.
Asked about the team’s overall offensive woes Tuesday night, Panarin said they “just had to get the puck on net.”
He was slowed early on by an upper-body injury during the preseason and Sullivan believes he still may be adjusting.
But Sullivan wants him to stick with what’s worked in the past.
“He’s at his best when he’s in that instinctive mindset and trusting his instinct,’’ Sullivan said. “And we’re trying to encourage that.”
The Rangers have already lost five games this season in which Igor Shesterkin has allowed two goals or fewer, including Tuesday’s loss to Carolina, when the Hurricanes added an empty-netter. The goalie has somewhat slowed from his terrific start to the season, when he gave up just three goals in his first four games, but the team’s lack of scoring touch has already wasted some solid performances from Shesterkin.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
