The Rangers’ horrific unit suddenly is not so horrific

The kaboom unit struck again.

The Rangers got another power-play goal Monday night in St. Louis from the five-forward group coach David Quinn famously said he wanted to blow up — “kaboom” — after failing so drastically before the Christmas break. It was the third goal in the previous three games for that group, having scored the first two both just seven seconds into their man-advantages in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets at home Thursday then a 4-3 win over the Predators in Nashville on Saturday.

“Another goal,” Quinn said with a sheepish grin after the 2-1 win in St. Louis, as the unit hardly looked great in its first two attempts before Mats Zuccarello scored with 19.6 seconds left in the first period. “Three games in a row we get a goal. Certainly needs some work, and there are some moments you wish some things were better. But I think that happens with any power play.”

This goal came when Chris Kreider stole the puck along the sideboards and made a quick pass to Zuccarello for a one-timer. It was a big goal and tied the game 1-1.

“Just one of those bang-bang plays,” Kreider said. “The power play has to continue to work hard, have that five-on-five relentless mentality.”

The domino effect from the five-forward unit — which also included Kevin Hayes, Mika Zibanejad and Vlad Namestnikov — was that it bumped defenseman Neal Pionk onto the second unit, where he was joined by Kevin Shattenkirk, returning from a seven-game absence due to a separated left shoulder. The offensive-minded Tony DeAngelo was also in the lineup, but he didn’t see any power-play time.

It’s curious to see how Quinn is going to deal with it now, as the man-advantage has risen to be ranked 14th (20.7 percent) in the league.