The good news for Rangers forward Chris Kreider is that his jaw took most of the punishment, not his brain.
Kreider returned to the ice yesterday at practice after taking a very hard hit from the Penguins’ Brooks Orpik in the waning minutes of the Rangers’ 6-3 loss at the Garden on Sunday night.
After an off-day for the team on Monday, the 21-year-old Kreider was one of the first players on the ice at the team’s Westchester training facility, saying it was his jaw that locked up on him after the hit, and he wasn’t even tested for a concussion.
“I’ve had jaw problems in the past, broke it in college,” Kreider said. “So it was just spasms, couldn’t move it.”
On the play, Kreider was carrying the puck across the Penguins’ blue line, and never saw Orpik coming until the fellow Boston College product had his shoulder pad slamming against Kreider’s jaw.
“I was able to get [my head] up at the last second,” Kreider said, “that’s why I got it in the jaw, not in the head.”
When asked if he thought it was a clean hit, Kreider said, “Yeah, I think he learned that at BC.”
* There was a reuniting of the Rangers’ mega-line, as Rick Nash, Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik skated together for the first time since early in training camp.
Although coach John Tortorella said he is unsure of what lines he’s going to use going forward, it is certainly enticing to have three of the league’s best playmakers on the same line.
“We need to get something going,” Gaborik said. “We have to play defense first, but Richie can dish the puck, and me and Nash, we have to use our speed.
“Nash is a big body, you can feel his presence out there. I just have to go to the net and look for pucks there.”
* Arron Asham missed practice due to a mild groin strain. Tortorella said his status for tonight is unknown. Taking Asham’s spot on the fourth line in practice was defenseman Stu Bickel.