This might be a difficult injury for the Rangers to swallow.
The Blueshirts lost forward Chris Kreider after the first period of the team’s 1-0 shootout victory against the Capitals on Wednesday night at the Garden, the first game out of the three-day Christmas break. Afterward, coach Alain Vigneault only said Kreider is out with “an upper-body injury, and I can tell you more [Thursday]. Not quite sure right now.”
There didn’t seem to be any play or hit that stood out with Kreider during the game, and he got two shots on net in 5:04 of total ice time. He was one of 11 players on the roster to have played in all of the team’s first 37 games, putting up 11 goals and 22 points.
Kreider had taken part in the team’s morning skate in Westchester, but uncharacteristically had left the ice and the locker room early.
Vigneault wanted to catch everyone’s attention coming out of the break, and did so by drastically changing his lines. Most notably, he started the game with second-leading scorer Pavel Buchnevich on the fourth line with Paul Carey and Boo Nieves.
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Buchnevich quickly took Kreider’s place next to David Desharnais and Jimmy Vesey to start the second period.
“Butchie has been going up and down in the last three games,” Vigneault had said before the game. “If somebody is off, I’m not going to hesitate to make a switch and to do what we have to do to play a good game. Butchie has been a good player for us, and I know that he’s going to continue to be a good player for us.”
The 22-year-old Buchnevich had 11 goals and 25 points in his first 36 games this season, already surpassing his 20-point total from 41 games as rookie last year when he dealt with back and core issues.Buchnevich still was set to remain on the top power-play unit, and finished with three attempted shots over 15:40 of ice time.
“After a three-day break when you haven’t practiced, this will catch everybody’s attention,” Vigneault said. “There will be good communication between new linemates and new ‘D’ pairs, and should be good to go.”
Also up front, Vigneault put J.T. Miller back on the right wing with Michael Grabner and Kevin Hayes. That left the other line as Rick Nash-Mika Zibanejad-Mats Zuccarello, which produced the most chances throughout out the game.
Zibanejad had his most assertive effort in the fourth game since he returned from his nine-game absence due to concussion symptoms.
Vigneault had been looking for a lot more from his presumption top-line center, who he benched for the final 18:09 of Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs.
“It’s been average. He needs to find his game,” Vigneault had said. “He needs to be more involved, more committed to make some plays with the puck and win some puck battles.”
The only defensive pair to stay the same was Ryan McDonagh-Nick Holden, while Marc Staal switched to the right side to go with Brady Skjei, leaving Brendan Smith-Kevin Shattenkirk.
They were defensive pairs that Vigneault said he “wanted to see for a while,” and with the losses and the break, he found the opportunity.