Rangers giving Chris Kreider a look as a penalty killer
Chris Kreider has killed penalties for the grand total of 5:37 over his six years and 381 NHL games, and not for one second was No. 20 considered a credible option to skate on one of the Blueshirts’ top three or four penalty-kill tandems.
But there is every chance that You. Will. See. Chris. regularly this year while the Rangers are shorthanded. The winger’s audition for the role commenced with 3:28 of penalty kill time in Monday’s 4-3 overtime victory at the Prudential Center.
“It’s something I should be good at,” Kreider, who killed penalties long ago at Boston College, told The Post following Friday’s training camp session. “I’m a good skater, I’m fast and quick for a big guy and I think I anticipate well, which are all qualities that are a big part of the PK. And being on our power play, I know what the reads are like against us and can see it from both sides.
“There’s a learning curve but I’m looking forward to trying to do it to the best of my ability.”
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The Rangers lost PK staples Rick Nash and Michael Grabner at the deadline, so David Quinn and his staff are seeking to rebuild the unit that should feature Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast and may well include Lias Andersson and Kreider in addition to Mika Zibanejad and Mats Zuccarello.
“We’re just trying to find out if [Kreider] can kill penalties,” Quinn said. “I just think with that speed, as a power-play guy, the last thing you want is someone with that speed coming at you. I would think a guy with his speed would make the power play uncomfortable. That’s why we want to get him out there as much as we can to find out what he can do within the penalty-kill structure.“That doesn’t mean he’s going to do it all the time, but I want him as a weapon. I envision the puck getting thrown down the ice and him going down and making a mess of their breakout and all of a sudden you might have a shorthanded opportunity. So I think we have to find a way to allow his speed to influence our penalty killing.”
Kreider is not scheduled to play in Saturday’s match in Bridgeport, Conn., against the Islanders. He’s likely next up Monday at the Garden against the Devils.
Henrik Lundqvist, way off in allowing five goals on 22 shots in 26:37 of work in Wednesday’s 6-4 defeat to the Flyers, said he “already made some corrections” on Friday.
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“There are a lot of little things you need to do the right way, but for me, having the right focus is always the toughest thing when I come back after the time off,” he said. “Some guys can just snap their fingers and they’re there, but I need to work myself back into it game-by-game. I can tell that there’s a big improvement after every game. There is nothing to worry about from the other night.”
Lundqvist is expected to split Monday’s match before going the distance on Wednesday against the Islanders at the Garden. He will then have just over a week before the Oct. 4 opener at the Garden against the Predators.
Alex Georgiev and Marek Mazanec will share the goaltending duties in Bridgeport while Kevin Shattenkirk, Mats Zuccarello, Adam McQuaid, Brandon Crawley and Rod Bigras make their preseason debuts. … Boo Nieves remained off the ice while following NHL concussion protocol in the wake of his injury on Monday.