The New York Rangers saw their nine-game road win streak end Friday night in Philadelphia, but more importantly, the Rangers suffered another loss when Chris Kreider left the game with a fractured foot.
Jakub Voracek tied an NHL career-high with four assists, as Philadelphia defeated the Rangers 5-2. The two teams will square off again on Sunday afternoon at MSG. The good news is that the Blueshirts remained tied with the Carolina Hurricanes, two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, as all three lost Friday.
The New York Rangers lose Chris Kreider for an extended time
Kreider blocked a low shot from Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers in the right circle of the defensive zone with 7:40 remaining in the period. He gingerly skated to the bench and briefly played one more shift.
There was no word after the game from the Rangers on how long he will be out. However, after the game, head coach David Quinn talked about the impact that losing Kreider will have on the team.
“We’ve proven we can overcome losing one of our top players and we’re going to have to do it again,” Quinn said. “Teams throughout the League are handling injuries, and we’ve been pretty fortunate for the most part this season for injuries.”
Kreider did not play the final two periods for the Rangers, who were playing back-to-back games and which is also the third in four nights, and looked every bit like a team that has been on the ice quite a bit within the last week.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev summed it up by saying:
“It felt like we just were running on empty today. We’re not looking for excuses obviously here, but it felt like maybe it was a little hard to play back-to-back against a really good team like that.”
The Rangers have not set a timetable for a return, but medical estimates state that he would be out at least a couple of weeks.