Ex-Rangers forward celebrates birthday by helping Ducks eliminate Oilers
Former New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider turned 35 on Thursday. He celebrated by helping his new team, the Anaheim Ducks, clinch their first Stanley Cup Playoff series victory since 2017.
Kreider, traded by the Rangers to the Ducks last June, scored his first goal of the series and added two assists for a three-point night to help Anaheim defeat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 at Honda Center in Game 6 of their Western Conference First Round series. The Ducks, the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division, will face the Vegas Golden Knights or Utah Mammoth in the second round. Vegas leads that series 3-2 with Game 6 on Friday.
It was the Ducks’ first series victory since defeating the Oilers in seven games in Western Conference Second Round nine years ago. They hadn’t qualified for the postseason since 2018, when they were swept by the San Jose Sharks in the opening round. Anaheim bounced back after a 4-1 road loss in Game 5 to end the Oilers’ quest for a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
“We learned a lot about ourselves in this series, and we got better as this series went on,” Kreider said after the win. “They’ve got a very good team. We stepped up when we needed to and got some timely goals and timely goaltending.”
The Ducks led 1-0 when Kreider scored his first goal of the series, a one-timer from inside the right circle that beat Connor Ingram to the short side. He added two assists to finish the series with five points, six shots on goals, 16 hits and a plus-4 rating in six games.
The line of Kreider, Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry combined for nine points in the clincher, with each scoring a goal and assisting on two others.
It was the 49th career playoff goal for Kreider – but his first since May 20, 2024, when he scored for the Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers. His 48 postseason goals are the most in Rangers history — he’s third in postseason points behind Brian Leetch (89) and Mark Messier (80).
Kreider’s most famous playoff moment with the Blueshirts came in Game 6 of the 2024 Second Round, when he had a natural hat trick in the third period of Game 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes to close out the series and get the Rangers into the conference final.
He left Broadway with 582 points (326 goals, 256 assists) in 883 regular-season games, ranking seventh in Rangers history in games played, third in goals, tied for first in power-play goals (116) and 10th in points.
The Blueshirts dealt Kreider to the Ducks last June 12 for forward prospect Carey Terrance and an exchange of picks in the 2025 NHL Draft. The deal came after Kreider finished with 22 goals and 30 points in 2024-25, his poorest offensive season since 2017-18, while battling injuries and illness. A big part of the deal was money: The Rangers did not retain any of Kreider’s salary on his contract, which runs through 2026-27 with an average annual value of $6.5 million.
Kreider scores on 35th birthday, helps Ducks eliminate Oilers
But the youthful Ducks were more than happy to pick up the tab.
“Chris Kreider is the type of player we were looking to add this offseason,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said after the trade. “He has size (6-foot-3, 230 pounds), speed and is a clutch performer that elevates his game in big moments. Chris also upgrades both of our special teams units, something we really needed to address.”
Kreider got off to a hot start with his new team, scoring 13 goals in his first 22 games. But he cooled off after that, finishing with 22 goals and 50 points in 75 games – finishing the season without a goal in his final 11 games. However, he provided a net-front presence that the Ducks had been lacking — 14 of Kreider’s 22 regular-season goals came from high-danger areas, or “in front of the net,” according to NHL Edge.
More important, his playoff experience was vital for a team that iced 14 players who were making their postseason debuts this year.
Kreider said the full house in Anaheim was more than ready to celebrate the franchise’s first series win in nearly a decade.
“Loud,” Kreider said when asked about the atmosphere in one of the NHL’s smaller buildings. “Super invested. Yeah, it was a blast. You can feel the energy in the building. It’s just a ton of fun to play in front of our home crowds.”
Thanks to Kreider, Ducks fans will get a few more chances to cheer on their team this spring.
