![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/adam-fox-23-new-york-118164716.jpg\")
Adam Fox #23 of the New York Rangers shoots the puck into the offensive zone during the first period of the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic game. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\nIt didn\u2019t take long after Adam Fox\u2019s shoulder injury for his absence on the power play to \u2014 again \u2014 become glaring. The Rangers had just started to make strides with their first unit after struggling to start the year before Fox exited their Nov. 29 loss to the Lightning and didn\u2019t return for a month.<\/p>\n
But in two games with Fox back in the lineup, the Blueshirts already have collected three goals in four opportunities \u2014 with the defenseman collecting one Wednesday before Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin followed two days later in the Winter Classic. <\/p>\n
The Rangers entered Sunday\u2019s games ranked 12th in the NHL in power-play percentage (21.2) after opening the season as one of the NHL\u2019s worst units. <\/p>\n
With the Rangers needing to keep pace in a packed Eastern Conference as they attempt to climb toward a postseason berth during the second half of the season, they\u2019ll need to rely on continuing to maximize their man-advantage opportunities, and Fox\u2019s return, even with a small sample size for now, already has paid dividends.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecial teams play a big role in their ability to influence the outcomes,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said after the Rangers practiced Sunday ahead of their home game Monday against the Mammoth. \u201c\u2026 [Fox is] an elite power-play defenseman. His ability to see the ice. His poise with the puck. His panic threshold. He doesn\u2019t throw pucks away. Just his ability to hold onto a puck, to move laterally, to scale the blue line, change his angle opens things up for himself and others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Fox #23 of the New York Rangers shoots the puck into the offensive zone during the first period of the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic game. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s what makes him unique. That\u2019s why he\u2019s such a difficult player to replace up there when we don\u2019t have him, so I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt that the power play can be a difference-making aspect of our overall team game. The most recent games are evidence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Fox missed time, the Rangers experimented with a five-forward setup and watched as that turned into a disaster. They tested Scott Morrow with the first line, too. And while they\u2019re still without an injured J.T. Miller, even just the presence of Fox \u2014 who has collected 28 points in 29 games this season and was just snubbed from the United States Winter Olympics roster \u2014 has sparked a power-play group that collectively went 6-for-39 across the 14 games without him.<\/p>\n
He stepped into a one-timer from just inside the point late in the second period of Wednesday\u2019s loss, ripping a shot past Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Then, the goals from the Blueshirts forwards followed in Miami. Sullivan said the unit hasn\u2019t \u201cseemed to miss a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with the Rangers struggling to produce goals at times, especially while at the Garden, a resurgent power play could help ignite their offensive production.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he got hurt, it forced a lot of decisions and putting different players in different spots,\u201d Sullivan said, \u201cand I think it shows you the impact that Foxy has on our power play, his ability to settle things down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noah Laba, week to week with an upper-body injury, skated on his own for the Rangers. Miller, out since Dec. 20 with an upper-body injury, practiced in a red noncontact jersey for the second consecutive session.<\/p>\n
The next Rangers win will mark the 500th of Sullivan\u2019s career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It didn\u2019t take long after Adam Fox\u2019s shoulder injury for his absence on the power play to \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":494261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[66394,1302,293,13726,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-494260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-adam-fox","9":"tag-new-york-rangers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-ny-sports-minute","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115842994913094828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}