NHL Playoffs 2012: Can Chris Kreider Build Upon His Game 1 Performance?

This is not 1980 anymore. As long as established NHL players are competing in the Olympics, winning a gold medal and a Stanley Cup in the same year may still be special for an individual’s memory bank. But it’s not so distinctive on an individual’s resume.

With that being said, there can still be a Ken Morrow of sorts, namely one who wins a major amateur tournament and a Cup within the same season. Morrow did it by way of the even less replicable “Miracle on Ice” and by subsequently hopping in on the fly in time for the New York Islanders’ four-year dynasty.

Chris Kreider is pushing himself closer to a similar feat as a New York Rangers rookie fresh off an NCAA title with Boston College, a title that is even younger than New York’s 2011-12 Atlantic Division laurel.

Kreider’s assist on Dan Girardi’s homeward-bound slapper and firsthand power-play conversion decided and helped to pull away a 3-0 victory Monday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. It constituted his second goal-assist outing in as many series openers and his first points since he fueled that 3-1 win over Washington.

Kreider’s goal against New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, whose NHL career began five weeks before the newest Rangers forward was born, was even visually fraternal to the distant slapper that beat Braden Holtby.

Great excitement for Blueshirt buffs, but many will likely wonder if the other skate is going to drop as it did in the previous round. After his explosive series opener against the Capitals, Kreider had two goals, an assist and a steadily built plus-two rating in six NHL games, all in the postseason.

He receded over the next six games, failing to add to his point total and letting his rating devolve to a minus-three by the time the Rangers triumphed in Game 7.

But barely 48 hours later, Kreider splashed his scoring drought and helped to shatter a scoreless draw that had held up through the second intermission. And when Girardi’s goal turned to stone as the game winner, Kreider’s primary assist meant he has had a hand in the deciding strike in all three games where he has appeared on the scoresheet.

Not a bad translation of the five game-clinching goals that tied him for BC’s team lead with Johnny Gaudreau over the 2011-12 collegiate season.

Monday night’s conference final kickoff may have also been Kreider’s most balanced professional performance to date. With three of the Rangers’ 35 registered body-checks, he hatched the goose-egg in the point column and the hit column for the first time in any of his 13 outings.

Odds are the jitterbug will not bite the budding power forward twice in as many series. The only way Kreider could crumble again is if he joins his teammates in letting residual wear-and-tear catch up to them before they can win three of the next six matches with the Devils.

But his pivotal role in Game 1 may turn out to be a vitally preventive series-saver. And depending on how much deeper the Rangers go, it could be a landmark moment in their 2012 postseason, to say nothing of Kreider’s career.