Chris Kreider after 1st game back at MSG as visitor vs. Rangers: ‘It was just a weird game’

NEW YORK — The tribute videos played in back-to-back commercial breaks in the first period: nearly two minutes for Chris Kreider, barely 30 seconds for Jacob Trouba. Each player waved to the crowd.

Kreider, the lifelong New York Ranger who played in parts of 13 seasons for the Blueshirts until the summer trade that sent him to the Anaheim Ducks, received a lengthy standing ovation from the Madison Square Garden faithful — several in Kreider jerseys — as he skated around, his hand on his chest.

“It’s self-explanatory,” Kreider said. “It’s hard to put into words what that experience was like … I don’t know, kind of leaves you speechless, I guess.”

The Ducks left the Garden on Monday night with a 4-1 win, though the game was fairly even. Both teams got looks, and at five-on-five, New York had 58.5% of the shot attempts and led that metric in all three periods, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers also led in high-danger chances at five-on-five (7-5) and had nearly 59% of the expected goal share, again leading that metric in all three periods, per Natural Stat Trick.

Rangers lose despite ‘hard-fought’ effort

The teams traded goals in the second period — Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe opened the scoring on a rebound that came off a shorthanded breakaway, and Matthew Robertson later tied the game after his point shot bounced in the air and was knocked in by goalie Lukas Dostal. 

Cutter Gauthier scored twice in the third period, and Pavel Mintyukov added a late insurance marker.

Postgame, Rangers captain J.T. Miller called Monday’s loss a “hard-fought game” and added that the difference came on special teams: the Rangers played well at five-on-five, but the power play struggled.

“Not the end of the world,” Miller said. “Just got to be better.”

The Rangers made two notable lineup changes for Monday’s game: forward Matt Rempe, who had been out since Oct. 23 after being injured in a fight, returned to the lineup. Center Mika Zibanejad was scratched after he missed a team meeting.

Kreider receives warm welcome

Kreider, the last Ducks player to take the ice for warm-up, was cheered when he came out. Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville started a quartet of former Rangers: Kreider, Trouba, Ryan Strome, and Frank Vatrano.

“That was a cool move by Coach Q,” Kreider said. “It’s a fun building to play in, even as an opponent.”

More than once in his postgame media availability, Kreider admitted that Monday’s game felt weird: “Took me a couple of shifts to remember the guys in blue weren’t my teammates.”

Quenneville was talking to Kreider about neutral zone play during the game’s first commercial break, so Kreider said he missed most of the Rangers’ video tribute for him. He said that what he did see was awesome.

Kreider ended his Rangers career tied for the franchise record with 116 power-play goals. He’s third in goals (326), seventh in games played (883), eighth in assists (256), and 10th in points (582) in franchise history.

“Just really grateful for the experience,” he said. “It was certainly a warm welcome back. That was incredible. Really really really cool moment.”

Still, the concept of playing at the Garden in different colors will take Kreider some time to get used to.

“It was just a weird game,” Kreider said. “Maybe next time it’ll feel a little more normal, bit of an adrenaline dump in the first period, a little bit of tunnel vision and nerves. Like my first game in New York.”

Matt Rempe returns to Rangers lineup

Rempe was initially deemed a game-time decision by Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan, who added pregame that he anticipated the six-foot-nine, 261-pound forward being available.

Rempe generated a buzz from the crowd each time he got in on the forecheck. He played a team-low 9:01, but led New York with five hits. Sullivan felt that Rempe played well, given the limited practice time he’s had. Rempe agreed — with the exception of the Ducks’ final goal with three seconds remaining, which his line was on the ice for.

“When he’s in the lineup, he makes an impact,” Sullivan said. “I think he creates anxiety for our opponents. That’s an area where I think he can help us. He gets in on the forecheck, he leans on people. He goes to the net front. He makes it hard on people.”

“Good to see him back,” said Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. “He’d been practicing for so long, so now he had a chance to play. I mean, he’s physical, he can create offense in different ways, so that’s good to have him back.”

Rempe later detailed his thumb injury, which was broken in several places during an Oct. 23 fight with the San Jose Sharks’ Ryan Reaves.

“I just got to the penalty box,” Rempe explained. “We were saying ‘Good fight’ to each other. I looked down at my thumb, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this thing’s not right.’ It just got tangled up in his jersey, and then I obviously was kind of in the wrong spot, and I was throwing a lot of left jabs. I just kept going, bang, bang, bang. I guess I just kept breaking and breaking it. But when you’re in a fight, you don’t feel anything, so you had no idea until after. It didn’t really hurt.”

How the Rangers responded to Mika Zibanejad’s absence

Pregame, Sullivan announced that Zibanejad would not play on Monday because he missed a team meeting. He added that the center would return for Tuesday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

“Well, sometimes it’s happened for different reason, but one of us have responsibility to step up in that case,” Gavrikov said. “Just got to bring the A-game the best you can.”

Zibanejad’s absence left a sizable hole in New York’s top six and a bigger void in the Rangers’ top power play unit, which has been without No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox since late November. 

The Rangers rolled out lines of Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafrenière, and Will Cuylle-J.T. Miller-Conor Sheary on Monday. Both Lafrenière and Cuylle were on the first power play unit.

Postgame, Sullivan declined to get into specifics regarding Zibanejad’s absence.

“We have a certain set of expectations that we all hold ourselves accountable to,” Sullivan said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about, and we all take ownership and responsibility for it. Mika and I had a discussion, we made a decision, and we move on. He’s an important player for us. He’s a terrific player, and he’s a terrific person.”

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