Thursday Night PrimeTime Report – 2/6/25

Rangers

“Running on Ice.” When Chris Kreider threads the needle, he doesn’t just skate. He runs.

Last summer, Billy Joel performed his 150th show at Madison Square Garden, setting the record for the most performances at the venue by any artist. The Garden honored Joel by raising the number 150 to the rafters.

Last January (2024), Chris Kreider scored his 166th career goal at MSG, the most goals a single player ever scored in the arena. Last night, he scored his 320th career goal, a shorthanded game-winner, to become the eighth active US-born player in the NHL to score 50 career game-winning goals. With his 12th career shorthanded goal, he also tied Bill Fairbairn for fourth place on the Rangers’ all-time shorthanded goal-scoring list.

“Just trying to catch him, catch up with him,” said Kreider regarding how he ran up the ice while killing a penalty to catch Mika Zibanejad’s pass. “I yelled early on. I think he knew I was coming, and we were able to connect.” Zibanejad was aware that Kreider was behind him because, as he pointed out, “you can hear [Kreider], not screaming, [but by] the way he skates.” Zibanejad finished the night with Hockey Stat Cards’ best game score on the team (2.30) thanks to a couple of assists, including his 27th shorthanded point as a Ranger, which tied Adam Graves for the third most in franchise history.

The Rangers have been “running on ice” all season. They went from a 12-4-1 stretch to a 4-15-0 collapse before embarking on a 10-game point streak, and despite consecutive wins here in early February, they still sit five points out of a playoff spot. They beat Boston last night, though, 3-2.

“We’re just trying to find a way to win,” said Chris Kreider. “It’s been a resilient group. I think we’d rather have the lead going into the third period and there are some things we’d like to do better, but it’s certainly a good sign, no quit in the group.” No quit indeed, but remember, it takes everyone.

The Broadway-Beantown rivalry is always entertaining. The Rangers now have wins in five of their last six games against Boston and have held the upper hand in the series these last two seasons. JT Miller’s return to the Rangers has brought a new edge, though. He scored two goals in Boston on Saturday, and although he wasn’t credited with any points last night, his forecheck sparked the Rangers’ first goal.

In the second period, Miller stormed down the ice and hopped over Charlie Coyle before finishing a forecheck against Brandon Carlo. This caused the puck to end up with Mika Zibanejad in the right corner boards, and he passed it out to Artemi Panarin in the upper right circle for a quick slap shot.

Nine minutes later, David Pastrnak extended his point streak with a goal, and 16 seconds later, Elias Lindholm added another to give Boston a 2-1 lead.

Just over three minutes into the third period, Brad Marchand took a questionable roughing penalty, putting the Rangers on the power play for the third time in this game. Although neither unit scored, the second power play united sustained its presence in the offensive zone effectively enough that Vincent Trocheck was able to tie the game two seconds after Marchand’s penalty expired.

At the right circle, Jonny Brodzinski collected his rebound and passed it to K’Andre Miller above the left circle. He moved into the high slot and fired the puck to Trocheck beside the goaltender’s glove. Joonas Korpisalo, who was backing up Jeremy Swayman, had been shoving Trocheck around the crease, but when he had to focus on Miller, Trocheck broke free. The game was tied, but there was still plenty of time remaining.

The Rangers worked hard to defend Boston throughout the rest of the third period, but halfway through, Matt Rempe took a holding penalty. The Rangers responded with a shorthanded goal.

“Obviously, we don’t want to come back every game in the third [period],” said Mika Zibanejad. “But it’s definitely a feeling in the locker room that we’ve don’t it before and we know we can do it.”

Last season, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in Carolina, Chris Kreider scored an incredible natural hat trick to send the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final. For that, his name will one day join Billy Joel’s up in the Garden rafters.

But not until the Rangers make a run, run, run in the playoffs.