Rangers' Vincent Trocheck looks comfortable playing net-front position in place of Chris Kreider

LAS VEGAS — Near the end of the Rangers’ morning skate at T-Mobile Arena, before they opened their three-game road trip on Saturday night against the Vegas Golden Knights, Chris Kreider, net-front specialist extraordinaire, set up in his office in front of Igor Shesterkin’s goal crease and got some practice reps redirecting pucks fired in from the point by his teammates.

After Kreider got off a few tips, Vincent Trocheck skated over to defend him, trying to tie him up and prevent him from getting his stick on the puck. Then Kreider skated away and Trocheck assumed his place, redirecting pucks on their way to the goal.

Trocheck needed the practice, because while Kreider has been out of the lineup for the last week and on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, it is Trocheck who has been standing in for him in the net-front spot on the Rangers’ top power-play unit.

Trocheck said he’s played the net-front position before, and he certainly has seemed comfortable there in the past week. In the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime loss to Dallas on Tuesday, he scored two goals, both on tips of shots from the blue line. One of those came on the power play, which had been in a 1-for-34 drought at the time.

“I mean, he’s good,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think he’s got great hand-eye coordination when it comes to [tipping pucks]. I still think he moves around well . . . You’ve got to remember all those parts move, too. They’re constantly in motion . . . And there are some starting points, but they don’t stay in those starting points all the time. They move around. But Troch has done a good job at the net.’’

Perhaps it’s somewhat ironic that the Rangers’ power play, which has struggled for so long, seems to be turning things around right at a time when it doesn’t have Kreider in the group. Kreider is widely recognized as one of the best players in the league at redirecting pucks and playing the net-front position. His 115 career power-play goals are second-most in franchise history, one behind all-time leader Camille Henry.

But with two goals in three opportunities in Thursday’s game against the Devils and three goals in five opportunities in their last two games, all without Kreider, the Rangers’ power play does seem to be turning things around.

“I think we’ve been snapping it around a little bit better, getting our confidence back,’’ Trocheck said. “You feel a little bit of that swagger out there; you can kind of feel the vibes are a little higher. So that helps a lot.’’

For Laviolette, it was always just a matter of time before the power play came out of its slump. Even when it wasn’t scoring goals, he said, the man-up unit was doing good things.

“There’s a lot of things that, from a numbers standpoint, they’re top 10 in the league,’’ Laviolette said. “Just sometimes it’s not always the goals, and that’s the results, and that’s what you need. When they get in [the offensive zone], they set up, they generate chances and they generate looks. And it was really big last game [against the Devils], coming up with a couple of goals that made a huge difference in a division game.

“So we’ve got to continue to do exactly what we‘re doing. I always feel like, if your power play is getting the looks, eventually they‘re going to drop. Those guys are talented guys and they know what they’re doing.’’

Trocheck said that when things weren’t going well, it was hard to have the confidence they needed to succeed.

“Everybody goes through slumps, and there’s times when you’re just down on yourself,’’ he said. “Whenever you think things are going to get worse, they typically do. It’s just a mental state — not just in sports but in anything, any line of work or day-to-day life. I feel like you go through your day a little bit more positive, a little happier. I think your days can go a little bit better. And the same thing goes for on the ice.’’

Notes & quotes: Filip Chytil, who missed Thursday’s game because of an upper-body injury, skated with the team at the morning skate but did not dress for the game . . . Kreider, who went on IR last Sunday, practiced fully and is eligible to come off IR before the next game Tuesday in Colorado . . . Bo Groulx, called up from Hartford to give the team some depth at the center position with Chytil out, was scratched along with D Zac Jones. Jimmy Vesey drew back into the lineup to take the spot of Brett Berard, who was sent to AHL Hartford to create a roster opening for Groulx.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.