RALEIGH, N.C. — His signature is all over recent Rangers history. You can’t miss it. Just as no one, but no one, could miss him down here on Thursday night.
The. National. Hockey. League. Saw. Chris.
Number 20 came about as close as possible as pulling a No. 11, for it was Chris Kreider, the senior Ranger, who recorded a natural hat trick in the third period to enable the Rangers to overcome a 3-1 deficit and record a Game 6 series-clinching 5-3 victory over the Canes.
It will mark the Blueshirts’ fifth trip to the conference final in the 13 years since Kreider joined the team fresh out of Boston College for the first round of the 2012 tournament. He was there for Adam Henrique. He was there for Jonathan Quick. He fairly famously crashed into Carey Price one time. He was there for the Tampa Bay letdown. He was there for The Letter.
And Kreider was there in the locker room after the second period Thursday. He stood up and said he would get one. He lied. He got three.
He got three in the third period the same way Mark Messier got three in the third period at the Meadowlands in 1994 in another rather significant Game 6 when the Blueshirts were down 2-1 to the Devils after 40 and facing extinction.
Game 6 in 1994.
Game 6, 30 years later.
And the Rangers are halfway to the Canyon of Heroes that would have to make room for Kreider, a reluctant hero at that. When I asked what this achievement meant to him personally, he responded the way I have come to expect.
“You’re going to hate this answer,” he said. “It means we have to play more hockey.”
Igor Shesterkin was spectacular as the Rangers opened it up from the start in an effort to generate more offense. They got in on the forecheck, grinded and cycled, but the Canes were able to capitalize on coverage mistakes to take that 3-1 edge.
Much like the 1994 Game 6 Devils, the 2024 Game 6 Canes had numerous, glorious opportunities to salt it away. They couldn’t. Sebastien Aho missed the net on a breakaway after Erik Gustafsson and Braden Schneider collided at the defensive line. Shesterkin stopped Jake Guentzel with the knob of his stick, and he stoned Jordan Staal from point-blank range midway through the third when it was 3-2.
He gave the Rangers the chance to come back the way Mike Richter did in Game 6 in 1994. Yes, I know, this was not an elimination game. But it sure felt that way. It sure felt like this was going to be the day of decision.
It was decided by Kreider — third in franchise history with 304 goals that trails only retired numbers No. 7 (Rod Gilbert) and No. 19 (Jean Ratelle), and first in franchise history with 47 playoff goals, seven this year. It was decided by the player who won the first Mr. Ranger Award in 2022.
This is the night that ensures that No. 20 hangs with No. 7 and hangs with No. 19 and hangs with No. 11 from the pinwheel ceiling at the top of the Garden.
“That is just a monster third period. I mean, he put it on his back,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “He really delivered.
“There was more than him, but at the end of the day we need to score goals, and this is what he does, and this is what he did tonight. It was a pretty unbelievable performance.”
There’s ample reason to believe that Kreider, as many of his teammates, have been dealing with a flu-like illness that raced through the team. No Ranger would acknowledge it. I have heard enough to believe that it’s true. I also know enough that this would never be an excuse for losing the series after taking a 3-0 lead.
Kreider went to the net to chip in a puck left at the right post by the exposed Freddie Andersen to make it a one-goal game at 6:43. He brought the Rangers into a 3-3 tie with a spectacular shoulder high power-play deflection of Artemi Panarin’s drive from the top at 11:54.
And he got the game-winner from in front in converting a centering feed from Ryan Lindgren after a neat cycle exchange with Jack Roslovic at 15:41. Barclay Goodrow sealed it with an empty-netter.
“He took over the game,” Jacob Trouba said of Kreider. “A lot of guys in here call him ‘the Horse,’ and that’s what he is, and he took off in that period and took it over.”
There’s a lot that goes into leadership. Standing up between periods of a challenging potential clincher is one way. Recording a hat trick in the third period of that game is another way. But there is more to it.
I said that Kreider was here when the Letter was published and the Rangers went into a reset approaching the 2018 trade deadline. Technically that is true. But Kreider was not on the active roster. He was, in fact, convalescing from the rib-resection surgery required to resolve multiple blood clots that had been discovered around Christmas.
The Rangers were out of it soon after the deadline purge and operated as a skeleton outfit. There was no reason for Kreider to rush himself back.
Kreider rushed himself back and played the final 21 games of that lost season.
Folks might not have noticed that. Everyone noticed Kreider Thursday night.
Did. You. See. Chris!
