Rangers’ Kreider thriving now that his heart is back in game

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. It happens to all of us. Real life — family life — intruding on our jobs.

The hockey player, too.

Specifically, the hockey player named Chris Kreider, who can be faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive steaming down the left side of the rink, but who is not immune to the pain felt by mortal men.

Still somehow only in his second full pro season with the Rangers, the 23-year-old broke out of the gate, well, in imposing fashion. But as the temperatures dropped and the calendar got into late November and early December, Kreider struggled to the extent that he was briefly demoted to the fourth line and then held out of the following game, ostensibly due to neck spasms.

Truth is, Kreider seemed lost.

Truth is, he was.

"That stretch was a real tough time for me and my family," Kreider, whose grandfather passed away on Nov. 27, told The Post following Tuesday's 3-2 overtime victory over the Senators at the Garden. "I'd never want to use that as a crutch, but it was very difficult for me to focus on hockey.

"My heart wasn't really into it, and that wasn't fair to my teammates or myself," he said. "It was hard for me. But the support system here in this room and from this organization and from my family at home was so strong and meant the world to me.

"Now, all that is behind me. Now, my focus is here."

Now, Kreider is again a force. He sure was in this one, for which he was awarded the Broadway Hat by his teammates after scoring the tying goal at 2:42 of the third period in finishing a nifty tic-tac-toe that began with a headman up the ice from Marty St. Louis to Marc Staal, who then slipped the puck ahead to a driving Kreider in the slot.

"Marty was just making unbelievable feel plays off the wall," said Kreider, ensconced on the left side of the unit that features St. Louis on the right and Derek Stepan in the middle. "It doesn't happen that way every game, but when it does, and the way Step was going, we're going to get a lot of chances."

Stepan's unit was clearly the Rangers' best in this one, as the Rangers enter the All-Star break on a 16-3 run and in second place in the Metropolitan Division. All three components moved the puck and their feet, looking for open spaces and seam passes to try and create some time and space against an Ottawa team that gave away little of either most of the night.

Chris Kreider says veteran teammate Martin St. Louis (right) is a great mentor to him.Photo: Getty Images

It's Kreider big and powerful on the left, St. Louis small and canny on the right. And as odd a coupling as it sometimes appears, there is a mentor-pupil aspect to the relationship Kreider savors.

Watch whenever they go off the ice: St. Louis invariably is talking to Kreider. Watch when they are on the bench. St. Louis is invariably talking to Kreider.

If you ever get the opportunity, watch when they are running through drills at practice. Watch when they stay on late following practice.

Yep, St. Louis is invariably talking to Kreider.

"It's a give-and-take relationship," Kreider said before pausing a moment to deliver the punch line.

"He gives and I take.

"He talks, I shut up and listen."

Kreider is soaking it all in. An exemplary student at Boston College, he is now taking a course in Advanced Hockey.

"The plays he makes, the things he sees before they happen; it's extraordinary," Kreider said of St. Louis, his 39-year-old linemate. "He is so cerebral … he is playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. Isn't that the euphemism?

"I had a coach at Boston College who said that you have to be able to think the puck in," said Kreider, who won two NCAA titles playing for Jerry York. "I think with Marty and Step, I can think it in.

"I think that's what our line can do."

The best is ahead for Kreider, who has scored five goals in the last 10 games after getting five in his first 32.

"I want to improve every day. I want to be better every day," said Kreider, whose heart is in the game and whose head is into his job following weeks of heartache.

Real life.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Rangers’ Kreider thriving now that his heart is back in game

Dengan url

http://susuvirus.blogspot.com/2015/01/rangersa-kreider-thriving-now-that-his.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Rangers’ Kreider thriving now that his heart is back in game

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Rangers’ Kreider thriving now that his heart is back in game

sebagai sumbernya