A LOW KREIDER
Rangers need Chris to score some more
VANCOUVER — Chris Kreider’s presence on the Rangers’ fourth line at Friday’s practice at Rogers Arena looked like a clear message from coach Alain Vigneault that the 23-year-old left wing hasn’t played well enough recently.
A bristly and introspective Kreider insisted he didn’t interpret it that way.
“No. I know how I have to play,” Kreider said. “I don’t need someone to send me a message. I put more pressure on myself than anyone else. I think a lot of guys on this team do. . . . I think if anything it’s commentary on how well some of the guys who got opportunities played when I was out.”
Indeed, Vigneault said he liked J.T. Miller’s game in Monday night’s 4-3 overtime win over Pittsburgh, which Kreider missed due to neck spasms. That partially explains why Miller will remain in Kreider’s typical spot on Derek Stepan’s left wing when the Rangers (12-10-4) face the Canucks (18-9-2) here Saturday night.
But the other reason, Vigneault said pointedly, is that Kreider isn’t scoring.
“It’s the same thing I would say for a few of his teammates,” Vigneault said. “I know Chris’ intentions are real good. His work ethic is real good. He’s a good, solid two-way player, but he needs to bring some offensive production.”
Kreider has no goals and three assists in his last 11 games. He is well aware of his drought, but his mantra on Friday was that only attention to detail on defense can help his offense.
“For me, if I pressure myself and worry about scoring, the other stuff is going to suffer,” Kreider said. “If you play honestly and you do the right things in your own end and in the neutral zone, that eventually (translates) to the offensive zone.
“The last 10 or 11 games, even if pucks weren’t going in, I thought I was defensively responsible and I thought I was doing a really good job . . . making good decisions in my own end,” he added. “Then obviously I had a couple of lapses recently, so that’s something I’ve got to get back to.”
Kreider’s most recent lapse was his failure — or “mental mistake,” as he called it after last Saturday’s game — to mark Red Wings forward Riley Sheahan before a second-period goal that ignited a Detroit comeback in an eventual 3-2 loss.
Mental mistakes might be more understandable in the short term, given that Kreider’s grandfather died in late November. Kreider missed the Rangers’ 5-2 win over Philadelphia at the Garden on Nov. 29 to attend the funeral, and that doesn’t mean the grieving ended there.
In any event, the Rangers are a team that has lost 18 of 25 leads this season. They are a mediocre 5-4-2 in their last 11 games. Kreider isn’t the only player who needs to improve.
But it has to start somewhere.