Rangers defeat Ducks on milestone night for Chris Kreider
Rangers left wing Chris Kreider reacts after scoring against the Anaheim Ducks in the first period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Rangers used a milestone game from Chris Kreider, a gutsy game from Jimmy Vesey and another excellent game in goal by Jonathan Quick to beat the Ducks, 5-1, at the Garden on Friday night.
Kreider scored a pair of goals, each with a special significance. His first of the night, which came at 17:06 of the first period and tied the score at 1, was his 500th career point and his 280th goal.
The goal tally temporarily tied Kreider with Adam Graves for third in team history. Rod Gilbert is No. 1 with 406 goals. Jean Ratelle had 336.
Kreider also became the 12th player to reach 500 points with the Rangers. Gilbert leads that list, too, with 1,021.
Kreider’s second goal, which made it 3-1 in the second period, was his 100th career power-play tally (tying Graves for fourth in Rangers history), and moved him past Graves on the franchise goals list.
“I love Adam Graves,” Kreider said, “but that’s hard to talk about right now postgame, especially with a game [today].”
It was left to others to do the talking about Kreider’s big night.
“It’s cool,” Mika Zibanejad said, “especially for an organization like the Rangers, Original Six team. All the legends, all the big names that have played here, and he’s getting up there and those records.”
Said coach Peter Laviolette: “[It’s impressive], especially in one city, to be able to stay here and do that, and in New York, too . . . I think it’s a tremendous accomplishment.”
Kreider’s second goal came after Vesey gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 11:45. Vesey was playing with a full face shield after taking a puck to the face in practice on Thursday.
Quick (9-0-1) continued his excellent play by making 28 saves. No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin, who has been slumping, should be back in on Saturday night when the Rangers face the Bruins in Boston.
The cherry on top was the first career goal for 6-7 forward Adam Edstrom, who scored with three seconds left. Edstrom, 23, was called up from Hartford (AHL) for his NHL debut. He replaced Nick Bonino, who, after coming out for pregame warmups, was scratched with an undisclosed illness.
Anaheim has lost five in a row and 13 of 14. The Ducks gave the Islanders a good scare on Wednesday before blowing a late lead and losing, 4-3, on a shorthanded goal at 18:27 of the third period.
On Friday, the Ducks took a 1-0 lead at 13:30 of the first on a blast by Brett Leason just after the Rangers killed off consecutive power plays.
First, Vincent Trocheck went off for interference. Then, with nine seconds left on that power play, Ryan Lindgren was called for hooking. The Rangers killed both penalties, but the goal came on five-on-five play.
The Rangers also killed off the first Anaheim power play of the second, one that lasted two seconds.
With Jacob Trouba off for holding, Anaheim’s Ryan Strome (a former Ranger) was called for tripping two seconds into the Ducks’ power play. The teams skated four-on-four for the next 1:58 without a goal being scored.
The Rangers had a pair of power plays later in the period that were nearly back-to-back — the second one started 34 seconds after the first one ended. Anaheim killed both to make the Rangers 0-for-3 on the power play (two total shots).
After Vesey gave the Rangers the lead, Anaheim’s Urho Vaakananinen tripped Jonny Brodzinski to give the Rangers another power play at 15:39.
At 16:19, Kreider made it 3-1 by beating Lukas Dostal. Mika Zibanejad added a power-play goal with 4:34 left in the third.
“The fact that he’s been here his whole career and to be able to do what he’s done is impressive,” Zibanejad said of Kreider. “You’re not going to get much out of him, but I’m super- proud.
“Whenever he hangs ’em up, he’s going to be able to enjoy it. Right now, he’s so professional. He’s just thinking about the next game. So long answer for being really proud of him.”
Notes & quotes: Defenseman K’Andre Miller missed his second straight game with what he called “a personal issue” on Thursday. It was not clear if Miller, who practiced with the team on Thursday, will play on Saturday.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
More Rangers
