Rangers make power-play change with stars in search of defensive conscience

Mike Sullivan already has reverted to his forward-thinking when it comes to the Rangers’ laggard power play — with another slight alteration, that is.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.

After briefly trying rookie defenseman Scott Morrow at the point on the first unit late in Wednesday’s unplugged loss in Chicago, Sullivan went back to the five-forward alignment he had deployed since PP ace Adam Fox was lost to an injury late last month.The twist in practice Friday in Tarrytown was that center Mika Zibanejad replaced winger Artemi Panarin in Fox’s role as the man-advantage quarterback.“Well, I think he’s a cerebral player.I think he sees the game so well,” Sullivan said of Zibanejad after practice.

“He’s similar to Bread [Panarin] in that regard, but I think Mika might add a little bit more of a defensive conscience up there.I think Mika’s game, one of the things that I’ve always admired about Mika is his willingness on both sides of the puck.

I think he brings an element there, and I think that’s important on the power play when you’re using five forwards.“That was one of the risks that we were obviously willing to take with the group that we had, based on our roster right now, where it’s at.So we’ve talked about Mika potentially going up there from Day 1, the day that Foxy got injured and we were looking to replace him on the power play.

We felt like probably our two best options were Bread and Mika.So we spent a fair amount of time trying to make it work with Bread.

We’re going to make this adjustment, see where it goes.”The Rangers also replaced Will Cuylle on the first unit with fellow winger Alexis Lafrenière, who manned the front of the net Friday with Panarin shifting to the left half-wall.J.T.Miller was on the right side with center Vincent Trocheck remaining in the high slot.“We think they’re the be...