Chris Kreider Immortalizes His Rangers Legacy With Series-Ending Hat Trick vs. Canes

It is now impossible to tell the story of New York Rangers' playoff excellence without putting Chris Kreider into focus.

Following three straight wins against the Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs, the Blueshirts lost a close one in Game 4 and then laid an egg at home in Game 5. For two periods in Game 6, the Rangers looked completely out of it.

Then Chris Kreider happened. A natural hat-trick in the third period lifted the Rangers out of a lifeless daze. All three goals around the front of the net. No surprise for one of the league's best power forwards.

One can't tell the story of the Rangers' comeback or series without highlighting goaltender Igor Shesterkin.

The team was lackluster to begin with, but a two-goal deficit against a team that specializes in attrition meant head coach Peter Laviolette's squad needed to take more risks. And the Russian's brilliance in goal prevented the Hurricanes from putting the score out of reach at many moments in the second and third periods.

For posterity, though, this is Kreider's moment. It's a big swing from 48 hours ago when New York was near crisis. In the immediate aftermath of its worst game of the season, Kreider did not match the panic many Blueshirts fans felt.

Hockey loves to romanticize the playoffs. The games are built differently. Teams that win know what it takes. Teams that don't win don't want it enough.

Stories are built out of the players who know how to win, and the difference is often chalked up to something abstract. A moment of leadership. A blocked shot. A fight that changed the momentum. They are lionized for having done something to lift the spirits of the entire group.

There is some truth in that, but at the end of the day, hockey is still hockey. You need to score more than the other team, and you need the players who directly make that happen. The Rangers were down and out, unable to generate any offense against, arguably, the best defensive team in the NHL.

Then, one of the league's best goal scorers used his speed, size and hand-eye coordination to pot three and end the series.

It's no surprise for anyone who has followed Kreider's career.

The Rangers' first-round pick in 2009, he left Boston College and started his NHL career in the middle of the 2012 playoffs. Unbothered by the moment, he finished third on the team in goals during a run to the Eastern Conference Final.

He was the points-per-game leader (13 in 15 games) for the Stanley Cup runners-up in 2014.

He potted 10 goals in 20 games during the surprise run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and last season, when the team looked lifeless against the Devils, he still produced 10 points in 19 games.

The 33-year-old does not have the aura of other playoff leaders. For one, he hasn't won a Stanley Cup. He also isn't captain of the Rangers. Though an incredibly interesting person off the ice, he's not known for big bursts of personality on it or TV-worthy one-liners from the locker room.

Great hockey players make great plays. And when they're around long enough, some of those moments will stick out. Mark Messier scored a hat-trick in Game 6 against the Devils in 1994 because he was a great player.

For all the accolades of leadership—his ability to inspire a group of players, manage emotions and set a tone—what ultimately mattered was that he stepped on the ice and made the plays that won the game.

Kreider repeated that performance. It does not come with the same window-dressing of the captaincy or raunchy headlines. He inserted himself into the game when the team needed him to and executed. It wasn't about saying the right combination of words to change the mood or a play to spark the rest of the team.

The Rangers needed three goals to win. He did it again in a clutch situation. It's not the first time he's stepped up and produced when the team needed someone to do it. He scored an overtime winner to keep the second-round series alive in 2013, and he saved the team from the brink of elimination in 2015.

We think a player will come up big in the playoffs if he is a leader. Maybe that order of operations is wrong. Kreider did what he has done since he first put on a New York Rangers sweater during the playoffs 12 years ago.

Winning hockey games requires making more plays than the other team. Kreider didn't win this series for the Rangers because he is a leader. He is a leader because he won this series.

It's the signature moment for a player who has done nothing but provide excellence in the playoffs for the Rangers throughout 13 seasons in New York.

The Rangers' all-time goal leader in the playoffs has his signature game, the Chris Kreider Game, that builds a legacy.

Stanley Cup or not, it's indicative of the impact made on this franchise and the tipping point that should clinch a jersey-retirement ceremony for the No. 20 at Madison Square Garden sometime in the future.