Exactly two years ago, Chris Kreider scored twice against the Anaheim Ducks and surpassed Adam Graves for third place on the all-time goals list for the New York Rangers.
Eleven months later, his name appeared in an infamous trade memo circulated by New York general manager Chris Drury, and about two months after the Rangers concluded a massively disappointing season, Kreider’s 13-year tenure ended.
Kreider makes his return to New York on Monday night when the Ducks visit the Rangers.
Those two goals in a 5-1 win over the Ducks were part of a 39-goal season as the Rangers won the President’s Trophy before being eliminated by the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final. Last season, Kreider dealt with a back injury at times, scored 22 goals and was traded to the Ducks on June 12.
“I grew up in that city,” Kreider told reporters last week before the Ducks began a five-game road trip. “Came in, drafted at 18 years old, and hoping to one day play there, and then to spend my entire 20s and early 30s there, and start a family of my own. It became home, right? That’s hard to put into words. That means everything.”
Kreider is returning with 13 goals for his new team after scoring 326 in 883 games for the Rangers. He is third on the Ducks in goals behind the youthful duo of Leo Carlsson (17 goals) and Cutter Gauthier (16 goals) and contributing to a team attempting to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18.
The Ducks are attempting to avoid three straight losses for the second time this season, following up Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders with a 4-1 setback to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Anaheim allowed four straight goals after Troy Terry scored in the first period.
Kreider is not the only former player returning to New York as he is joined by Jacob Trouba. Trouba was New York’s captain for two-plus seasons before getting dealt to Anaheim on Dec. 6, 2024 after Drury tried to get him to waive a 15-team no-trade clause during the 2024 offseason.
“Living in New York for those years of your life and having the opportunity to play on MSG and do the whole thing in New York City is an unbelievable experience,” Trouba told reporters last week ahead of Anaheim’s trip. “I’ve got nothing but great things to say about my time there, the people and everything that transpired.”
The Rangers are 4-8-2 at home but also 2-0-2 in their past four home games after Saturday’s 5-4 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens.
New York snapped a three-game losing streak by erasing a three-goal deficit when J.T. Miller scored a power-play goal with 2:04 left in overtime.
Miller also scored the tying goal in the second period after the Rangers gave up three goals in a span of 3:37 in the opening 20 minutes and notched his second multi-point game this season.
“We just kept digging in,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s a credit to the players, their resilience, just to fight through some of the adversity.”
Artemi Panarin scored on a penalty shot while Will Cuylle and rookie Noah Laba also scored on the man advantage, marking the fourth time this season New York scored twice on the power play.
Those power play goals occurred after the Rangers were 0-for-11 on the man advantage since losing defenseman Adam Fox to a left shoulder injury on Nov. 29.
