New Jersey Devils notes: On New York's sneaky shooter, PP2, and an enticing 5v5 matchup

The Rangers power play has been sizzling hot of late and it's not the player you'd expect scoring all the goals. On that, PP changes, and a good matchup for the Hughes line.

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A few notes on the eve of Devils vs Rangers:

The sneaky shooter

After the Rangers acquired Patrick Kane, they quickly moved him to the top power play and settled on a lethal five-man unit of Kane, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Adam Fox.

In the 19 games since, one player distanced himself as the team’s primary shooter and scoring threat on the man advantage.

This player scored seven power play goals (nobody else netted more than two) while leading the way in attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances, and expected goals.

This player is Artemi Panarin.

As you can see, Panarin leading the charge in goals is no coincidence. He registered five more chances, nine more shots on target, and 13 more attempts than the closest player to him.

Surprising, right? For sure; and that’s likely part of why the power play has been so successful.

One would think the Rangers would be hellbent on feeding Zibanejad one-timers or hitting Chris Kreider back door for tap-ins. The Rangers have used that to their advantage and Panarin has been the prime beneficiary.

Could the Rangers change things up against the Devils? Absolutely. But the power play is firing on all cylinders right now and Panarin’s been the guy doing the bulk of the damage as the shooter.

The Devils need to keep that in mind in this series. If they focus a lot of their attention on taking Zibanejad away, the Rangers clearly have found an alternative path to scoring goals.

No Wood is good