The bear was poked.
And the bear responded.
Ferociously.
One of the pressing subplots entering Game 5 of the conference final between the Rangers and Panthers on Thursday night at the Garden was this: How would Chris Kreider react to being publicly ridiculed by Panthers star winger Matthew Tkachuk?
Kreider scored the first goal of the game for the Rangers on Thursday.
It, however, came in vain in a crushing 3-2 loss to the Panthers — a result that leaves the Blueshirts one game from elimination, down 3-2 in the series as it shifts to Florida for Game 6 on Saturday night.
It was their only goal until the last minute, when Alexis Lafreniere scored for the final margin during six-on-five.
After the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4 on Tuesday in Florida, Kreider was called out by Tkachuk.
He was, quite frankly, made fun of by Florida’s chattiest trash talker.
The Tkachuk tweak was a result of Kreider taking his mouth guard and attempting to throw it into the stands during a brief scrum 48 seconds into the third period Tuesday.
“I told him, that was the best play he made all game,” Tkachuk couldn’t wait to tell reporters with a smirk the day after the incident.
An argument can be made that it was the most memorable play Kreider had made in this series.
Until Thursday night.
Goals have come at a premium for the Rangers in this series, with the forecheck-mad Panthers stifling the Rangers scoring stars.
That’s why, when Kreider stole the puck from Tkachuk — yes, that Tkachuk — on a Florida power play and turned it into a 1-0 Rangers lead 2:04 into the second period, it felt like a heavy cloud of stress was lifted from the capacity Garden crowd.
And Kreider, too. He hadn’t scored a single point in the first four games of the series.
The goal, his eighth of the postseason and second short-handed tally, was a beauty.
After Kreider pick-pocketed Tkachuk, he passed it to Mika Zibanejad who passed it back to him as they whisked into the Florida zone.
From there, Kreider deked Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a move to his right and dusted Bobrovsky with a backhander into the open net.
Kreider hurdled his body into the glass behind the goal in celebration and was mobbed by teammates.
“He did a great job,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said of Kreider during an in-game TV interview with ESPN. “He’s a pro. He’s been around, been in a lot of playoff games. He responded very well.’’
Kreider, who scored 39 goals in the regular season, had been without a goal or an assist in the first four games of the series and entered Thursday’s game with just five shots on goal in the four games.
It seemed like just yesterday when Kreider produced that memorable third period that makes legends in the Game 6 clincher against the Hurricanes, scoring a natural hat trick to propel the Rangers into this series.
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Kreider has not been alone in his offensive slump that’s left the Rangers Stanley Cup hopes on the knife’s edge of elimination.
Zibanejad last scored a goal 11 games ago in the series opener against Carolina, and was also without a single point in the series until his assist on the Kreider goal.
Artemi Panarin, who led the team with 49 goals and 120 points in the regular season, entered Thursday having scored his last goal in Game 3 of the Carolina series, eight games ago.
The Panthers suffocating forechecking has shrunk the ice for the Rangers’ scoring stars in this series, and the Blueshirts have been unable to counter with a proper answer.
Until Thursday.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, it wasn’t enough.
