This just might be the year for Chris Kreider.
In his 10th NHL season, with three games to go until the halfway point, Kreider is six goals away from achieving the first 30-goal campaign of his ź¦ŗcareer. He has finished with 28 twice and has had seven seasons with 20-plus goals, but the longest-tenured Ranger has nāever reached the coveted 30-goal mark.
Kreider recorded his 24th goal of the season, and fifth in the past six games, in the Rangersā 3-2 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday night. Redirecting the game-winning goal from in front of the net off an Adam Fox shot, Kreider enterešd Sunday with the fourth-most goals in the NHL.
āHeās played a lot of games, he knows how toź¦ win in this league, and heās a leader for us,ā Fox said of Kreider after the road win. āWhen we need a spark or a big goal, it seems like heās always been there for us. It was no different [Saturday].ā
The 30-year-old winger is playing some of the best hockey of his career, which was validated last week when he was announced as an All-Star along with Fox, the reigning Norris Trophy winner. While it will be Kreiderās second All-Star appearance, itās his first outright selection after he stepped in ā±as an injury replacement for Artemi Panarin in 2020.
Thatās just scratching the surface of what Kreider has meant to āthe 2021-22 Rangers. In addition to serving as a leadership voice in the locker room, Kreider leads the Rangers with a career-high 12 poą¹wer-play goals, which was good for second in the NHL entering Sunday. His 17 total points on the man-advantage is also a career best.
āI think heās playing with a lot of confidence,ā head coach Gerard Gallant said. āWe put him on the PK, heās taken a responsibility there and doing a real good job of it, obviously. With his speed and his strength and when he gets to the net, on the pošwer play he shoots the puck and heās around the net, hit the post again [Saturday night]. I just think heās full of confidence and things are going in for him.ā
Between the way Kreider has mastered his net-front presence and the continuity of the first unitź¦, the Rangersā power play has repeatedly fšound ways to be effective. The Rangers round out the top-10 power plays in the league at 23.2 percent, while their 26 goals were tied for fifth.
The Blueshirts went 1-for-2 on the power play Saturday, which improved the team to 16-2-3 in games in which it scored on the man-advantage. Kreider has also taken on penalty-killing reāsponsibilities, something he hadnāt done much of until this season.
After fšending off the Flyersā lone power play in the most recent win, the Rangers have been perfect on the penalty killš„ in seven of their last nine games and 11 of their last 14.
āI think heās definitely been a dominant player this year,ā Fox said. āObviously, around the net heās good. But heās been making plays, big defensively and I know heās been killing penalties. Heās been the young guy on the team. Now, heās the older guy on the team. So I think he knows how to handle the room well ź¦and when we need him, he steps up.ā