New Blue blood: Hrivik called up to boost penalty kill, depth

MAREK HRIVIK’S best NHL memory prior to Sunday night was playing on an impressive line with J.T. Miller and Oscar Lindberg in a preseason game in Las Vegas in September 2013. The Slovakian completed a strong training camp in Alain Vigneault’s first fall as Rangers coach but didn’t get the call to The Show.

Sunday, however, the phone rang, and hours later Hrivik was logging 7:32 of ice time in his NHL debut, a 1-0 Rangers overtime win over the Red Wings at the Garden.

“I remember. That was my first camp,” said Hrivik, 24, recalling that night in Vegas. “I had a good one for sure. It was tight, a lot of guys played well. It was me, J.T., Jesper (Fast). So it was a big lineup up there. I got sent down to Hartford, and I’ve been trying to work my way up here the past few years. So I’m glad it worked out.”

Hrivik, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-handed shot, played 44 seconds on a penalty kill that held the Detroit power play to just one shot. He is expected to play more penalty-kill minutes.

He was brought here to improve the struggling penalty kill and forward depth, where Jarret Stoll and Paille failed before him in trying to replace the traded Carl Hagelin. Hrivik has been the Hartford Wolf Pack’s best penalty killer. He just had to wait a while for the call: He first signed as an undrafted free agent in May 2012 and resigned last summer on a one-year, $575,000 deal.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, there we go, four years but I’m here,’ ” Hrivik said. “I was just happy it happened. It was a hard first game. It was hard to get my legs going the first few minutes, but I’m happy we won. I’m gonna remember this for the rest of my life.” —Leonard