The yarn as spun by Chris Kreider is he just happened to run over Scottie Upshall on his way to the bench for a change with 1:15 remaining and the Rangers up by a goal against the Panthers.
“It was accidental contact,” the winger insisted following Monday’s practice. “You see that a lot every game.
“I guess I have to do a better job of avoiding that.”
The fact is Kreider avoided sanctions of any kind from the NHL Department of Player Safety for blasting a helpless Upshall into the boards between the benches after the Florida winger and the Blueshirts’ Derek Stepan sparred, cross-checked and slashed their way across the ice in a two-man confrontation that ended when the third man came in.
“Absolutely he was protecting me,” Stepan told The Post following practice. “I know Chris as a person and as a player, and that was his thought process.
“Obviously I think he understands that there’s a time and a place for that, and that wasn’t the right situation for it. I give him a lot of credit for wanting to stand up for me the way he did, but going about it the right way is another thing.
“Chris is going through the process of finding his way in this league. There’s a learning curve and he’s going through that,” said Stepan. “But his heart is in the right place and so are his intentions. It’s good to know you have a teammate like that who is going to stand up for you.”
Kreider apparently recognized the error of his ways the moment he was sent to the box for cross-checking, for the 22-year-old apologized to his teammates after the Rangers killed the penalty to preserve the 4-3 lead for their sixth victory in seven games.
“It was a quick talk and we moved on,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who will oppose Martin Brodeur in nets on Tuesday when the Devils come to the Garden. “He understood right after it happened that it was the wrong decision.
“Luckily it worked out and didn’t hurt us. You learn and you move on.”
Kreider didn’t hit Upshall in the head. Upshall wasn’t injured, even as he tumbled backward awkwardly in the wall. And Upshall was able to see Kreider coming, even if at the last moment. Of course, Wile E Coyote saw the safe plummeting down on him, too, and that did the pesky creature about the same amount of good as it did Upshall on Sunday.
Still, the NHL decided no harm, no foul beyond the minor assessed at the time to Kreider.
“Knowing Chris, he’s a big, strong, young man who plays a physical-type game, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody,” said coach Alain Vigneault. “He has played well at both ends of the rink. We need him to keep doing that.”
Kreider has played with a jagged edge since rejoining the Rangers in Philadelphia on Oct. 24 after opening the season in Hartford. The combination of his speed, size, strength and skill has turned him into a menacing figure on the ice. There’s a ferocity to his game that has played a significant role in his team’s transformation.
He is so strong that he takes a pound of flesh whenever he finishes a check. Opponents on the receiving end — and otherwise—have taken exception. Wednesday at the Garden, Sidney Crosby responded to a check with angry words. Thursday in Columbus, it was James Wisniewski and Fedor Tyutin. Sunday, after Kreider was assessed a bogus charging penalty in the first period for taking out 18-year-old Aleksander Barkov, Florida’s Sean Bergenheim yapped at Kreider on his way to the box.
“I guess he was just trying to stick up for a young player,” said Kreider. “I would do the same thing.”
(Uh, like he kind of did on Sunday.)
According to all available databases, Kreider has never been in a fight on the ice. Chances are he will be challenged to drop his gloves if he continues to play with the battering-ram mentality with which he has skated since his recall. Someone somewhere will initiate him. For better or worse, that’s the way it works in the NHL.
“If you want to say that I’m playing with an edge, that’s what you can call it,” Kreider said. “I just don’t want to be easy to play against.
“I think that’s how everybody wants to play.”
On purpose.