Ex-Rangers star stays hot as former teammates battle historic scoring woes
On the same night that the New York Rangers set an NHL record for scoring futility on home ice, one of their franchise icons was lighting the lamp for his new team on the West Coast. It’s hard to ignore that juxtaposition.
Chris Kreider scored two goals, including the game-winner on the power play with 1:27 remaining in regulation, to help the Anaheim Ducks win their home opener, 4-3 over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. That took place a few hours after the Rangers were shut out 2-0 by the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden to become the first team in League history held scoreless in each of its first three home games of a season.
Despite out-shooting the Oilers 30-22 and holding a huge advantage in high-danger scoring opportunities (15-3), per Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers simply couldn’t hit the back of the net. It was a near-identical re-run of their 1-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Sunday at MSG. They were the better team in nearly every facet of the game. Yet lost because of an inability to cash in on numerous scoring chances.
A cynic might say that it’d be a good time for the Rangers to have their third-leading goal scorer all-time in the lineup. But Kreider took his 326 goals (at the time) to So-Cal, when the Rangers traded him this past summer to create room under the NHL salary cap.
In his first three games with the Ducks, Kreider has four goals, which is tied for second most in the NHL. Three of those goals were scored on the power play, and he also has an assist.
“He’s been effective in a short amount of time and his production is reflective of how important he’s been,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said following the win Tuesday.
It was classic Kreider against the Penguins, twice scoring from close to the net. After the Penguins scored the first two goals, Kreider made it 2-1 on an easy tap-in to the side of the cage off a pretty pass through the crease by Leo Carlsson at 9:41 of the first period.
He assisted on Drew Helleson’s go-ahead goal for Anaheim at 9:48 of the second period, but Pittsburgh pulled even less than eight minutes later. With no goals for either side for more than 18 minutes to start the third period, it appeared that the Ducks would play their second straight overtime game.
But not so fast. Kreider rifled a power-play one-timer from between the circles past Tristan Jarry at 18:33 to lift the Ducks.
That clutch gene apparently travelled cross-country with Kreider. And his former team could’ve used that goal-scoring touch again Tuesday.
Neither Rangers nor Chris Kreider looking back
Of course, this isn’t a simple narrative. The Rangers wanted to trade Kreider last season, when he battled injuries, illnesses, and a steep drop in production. Though he finished third on the Rangers with 22 goals and six power-play goals, Kreider had a disappointing 30 points in 68 games. His name leaked in a trade memo from Chris Drury to the other NHL general managers, making a bad situation even worse.
At 34 years old and with two seasons at $6.5 million remaining on his contract, Kreider was a goner this past offseason. The chance that he’d be rejuvenated in Anaheim was always there. But the Rangers decided it was important to move on, free up cap space, continue to shake up their core, and give opportunity to younger forwards.
And it’s not the like Rangers look terrible without Kreider. In fact, it’s rather stunning that they were held scoreless the past two games given how well they played. There’s a reason why coach Mike Sullivan and the players believe the Rangers are on the right path, despite the recent head-scratching results.
It’s just a tough look for these scoring struggles to happen when Kreider’s lighting the lamp with his new team, including back-to-back multiple-goal games. Maybe not as tough a look as Kreider in those new bright orange threads. But, yes, tough.
It certainly does make it tough, right now, to turn the page on the Kreider era. Though that could change quickly once the goals start going in for his old team, no matter what success he has with his new one.
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