It was 368 days ago when Chris Kreider made his career debut as a Ranger.
In Thursday night’s 6-1 win over the Panthers at the Garden, he got back to the Blueshirts after his most recent six-game stint in the minors with the AHL’s Connecticut Whale. Yet it was not like the halcyon days of last year’s playoffs, when Kreider burst onto the scene out of Boston College for an eye-opening 18-game run that included five goals.
Instead, coach John Tortorella buried Kreider on the fourth line with Darroll Powe and Arron Asham, playing the 21-year-old rookie a total of 7:02, with one shift in the second period and three in the third.
The main reason Kreider was recalled in the first place was the right knee injury to Brian Boyle, sustained in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia, and keeping him out last night. Tortorella said Boyle would be out for at least tonight’s game against the Sabres in Buffalo and the Devils game Sunday afternoon at the Garden.
“There were a number of players we talked about,” Tortorella said yesterday afternoon concerning the decision to bring Kreider up. “The thing that we settled on was his speed. We want to try and play with more pace, so that’s who we go with.
“I’m still not crazy about bringing the kid here,” the coach continued. “But we felt with his assets, his speed especially, that’s who we’d go with.”
***
Rangers defenseman Marc Staal might regain 100 percent of his vision, but his injured right eye probably will never regulate light properly again.
Staal skated Thursday morning, and with the pupil of his eye dilated to the point where his light-green iris is hardly visible, he continued to struggle with bright lights.
Though there is still no timetable for his return, Staal said the muscle that controls the pupil size was damaged so severely in his injury that it might never again regain its full strength.
“Those moments when you walk into a [bright] room and your pupil shrinks,” Staal said, “mine takes a little longer, if at all.”
****
After his conditioning skate at the MSG training facility in Westchester, Staal said the low-hanging lights over that rink at times made it difficult. After skating in Philadelphia before Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Flyers, he said the high-hanging light there — along with the general dimness — was easier on his vision. Good news for him is that the Garden is one of the darkest arenas in the league.
After getting hit with a Jakub Voracek deflection of a Kimmo Timmonen slap shot on March 5, Staal has missed 22 games. He will continue to travel with the team as he tries to regain some depth perception, and regain the 10-12 pounds he lost immediately following the injury.
“The thought of what went on and not seeing much when it happened made my stomach go, and it never really stopped for four or five days,” said Staal, who is now two or three pounds away from normal. “It was worse than any part of the pain.”
He said the team has order different visors for him to try out as he gets closer to returning, including a tinted on similar to the one the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin wears.
***
New defenseman John Moore got into his first NHL fight, squaring off early in the third period with Jack Skille and certainly getting the better of the scrap.
“I’m a younger guy here so I’m pretty quiet so they were laughing pretty good,” Moore said about his return to the bench after serving the penalty. “They got a pretty good rise out of it.”
***
Tough-guy forward Derek Dorsett had a conditioning skate by himself Thursday morning, and is inching closer to returning from his broken collarbone.
“Hopefully in the next week or so I’ll start shooting,” said Dorsett, out since March 7. “And then after that get into some battle drills.”
***
The Rangers signed undrafted free agent forward Michael Kantor of Sudbury (OHL).