The New York Rangers have been outright decimated by injuries. As of late the blue line has taken a brunt of the pain and it has shown. Marc Staal had been in and out of the lineup due to a hip injury, Ryan McDonagh has been dealing with nagging injuries and Kevin Shattenkirk is now on the shelf long term.
The team’s power play will miss its driver while Shattenkirk is on the shelf. As a team heavily dependent on the power play to score, Shattenkirk being out of the lineup means a stagnated man-advantage. The Rangers have been struggling to score since the start of the new year, averaging 2.