Despite having one of the league's best records, the New York Rangers have one of the worst power plays. As they come down the stretch, the Rangers hope to revitalize their power play in order to fully realize team potential.

Sitting atop the Eastern Conference with 71 points, the New York Rangers have a lot to be proud of, especially their stingy team defense, which starts with goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

But the Rangers' strong first 52 games has masked a team Achilles heel: one of the NHL's worst power plays. As the team grinds through late winter and battles for the Eastern Conference regular-season crown and the President's Trophy, coach John Tortorella and general manager Glen Sather will likely give much thought to how to get their team to improve with the man advantage.

And if the Rangers' power play does not improve by the time the Stanley Cup playoffs commence, New York will find itself at a disadvantage, despite working all season for game sevens at home.

Last year's Boston Bruins were the only team in the last year three playoff seasons to reach the Stanley Cup Final with a power play that did not finish in top half of all participating teams, percentage wise.

The Rangers' power play woes were on full display during Tuesday's 1-0 loss to the Devils at Madison Square Garden when they failed to convert on three opportunities. They followed that up on Thursday night by going 1-for-3 in a 4-3 home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

New York is 27^th in the NHL with the man advantage this season, having converted on just 13.1 percent of its opportunities.

Tortorella, who brought a reputation as an offensive-minded coach to the team, has surely been frustrated by his team's power play performance.

He simply told reporters "we'll keep working on it," after the loss to New Jersey.

Brad Richards signed a nine-year, $60 million contract with the Rangers this summer, with one of the expectations being that he would improve the team's power play. Not so much, as Richards has a total of three goals and 10 assists on the power play this season.

Nevertheless, Tortorella has been pleased the 31-year-old center's recent play.

"I tell you, even though our power play has struggled, (Richards) has done a much better job as far as our entries and the patience he has with the puck," the coach said

 before the win against the Lightning. "He's made some really good plays on our entries. We've done squat with it on the end zone, but he has done really good things getting us in the end zone."

Richards has performed in crunch time, it is just usually at even strength. The center's overtime goal against Tampa Bay on Thursday night was his seventh game-winning goal of the year.

The Rangers have mainly leaned on Richards (leads the team power play time on ice per game at just over four minutes), Ryan Callahan (who scored a power play goal onThursday), Marian Gaborik and Derek Stepan up front on the power play with Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi as the most frequent point men.

While no reports indicate any trades are imminent, Sather is likely working the phone lines for some stretch-drive reinforcements.

Because the team's MVP, who has little to do with the power play yet everything to do with its stellar penalty kill, knows how important that facet of the game can be.

"In the second half and playoffs, especially," Lundqvist said after the Devils loss, "we have to make sure our power play and our penalty kill is sharp."

Additional reporting by Denis Gorman

NOTES

The return of New Jersey Devils center Travis Zajac from his Achilles injury may have been premature. Zajac returned on Dec. 16 and played eight games before going back on the shelf. Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said on Thursday that Zajac is likely a month away from returning to game action. New Jersey has gotten by well without him however, as it is 6-2-2 in its last 10 games. ... Pittsburgh Penguins center Jordan Staal is expected to return to the lineup on Saturday when his team hosts the Winnipeg Jets. Staal has been out since Jan. 6 with a knee injury. ... The Flyers failed to win their third straight game on Tuesday when they fell 1-0 via the shootout at home against the New York Islanders. Shootouts have been a major issue for the Flyers this season, winning in only one of six opportunities. Flyers goalies have al league-worst .375 save percentages in the skills competition. ... Islanders rookie defenseman Travis Hamonic will miss at least two weeks with a broken nose after blocking a Christian Ehrhoff shot with his mug last Saturday.

Photos by Getty Images

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