Chris Kreider doesn’t quite know what he could or should have done differently when he shouldered Columbus’ Fedor Tyutin into the boards 21 seconds into the second period Monday, only to receive a five-minute boarding major and game misconduct when the defenseman stayed down on the ice with an apparent injury that turned out to be a charley horse.
“I pulled up, I didn’t make much contact; I almost came to a complete stop,” Kreider said following Tuesday’s practice. “The next thing I know, he’s down on the ice with some sort of an injury, [Brandon] Dubinsky is throwing punches at me, and I’m out of the game.
“I tried to do the right thing. It was bad luck, I guess. I was surprised at the call,” he said. “I don’t know; should I have pulled up completely?”
The NHL Department of Player Safety reviewed the play during the Rangers’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets before concluding that neither a hearing nor supplementary discipline of any sort would be required. The Rangers are believed to be asking that the league rescind the major.
Kreider, who will return to the lineup Wednesday night in Chicago, was asked what he would do the next time he faced a similar situation.
“I don’t know. I can’t just let him go and have him make a play,” he said. “Maybe kind of grab him and try and ride him off the play, but if he moves his feet I’ll get a holding call, so I probably can’t do that.
“It’s such a bang-bang play. I thought I made the right decision. I really tried to do the right thing. It’s just too bad.”
Coach Alain Vigneault sympathized with Kreider’s plight.
“When you look at the play, he’s attempting to stop, his momentum carries him,” Vigneault said. “You always tell your players to finish their checks, in his mind he’s going shoulder to shoulder, [Tyutin] turns a little bit, and [Chris] being such a strong man, overpowers him and he falls awkwardly into the boards It’s not easy for players.
“Other than telling him not to hit in that situation, I don’t know what else,” the coach said. “I think as a player, the onus is probably on both [the checker and the receiver], but in today’s game, the way teams cycle the puck and protect the puck, it seems like the No. 1 instinct now is to turn your back and put more of the onus on the guy who’s doing the hitting.
Carl Hagelin said he was delighted to be named to the Swedish Olympic Team. The winger will join Henrik Lundqvist on the squad.
“It’s the first time for me to play on the national team at that level, so I know I’m going to learn a lot,” Hagelin said. “I knew it was going to be tough competition but I always believed that I would show I belonged and to have the [hierarchy] believe it is a very satisfying feeling and an honor.”
Lundqvist, who won gold in 2006, was asked if he liked this year’s Team Sweden.
“I haven’t seen the team,” the goalie said. “But I know that [I] like it.”
Vigneault said he hadn’t decided whether to insert Dan Carcillo (or Justin Falk) in the lineup against the 29-7-9 defending Cup champion Blackhawks.