Rangers’ Kreider can break “obscure” NHL record in Game 2

Chris Kreider is on the verge of history.

Again.

The first player in 25 years to win an NCAA title and make his NHL debut in the playoffs in the same year (the other: Tony Hrkac, for North Dakota and St. Louis in 1987), Kreider’s now in line for another first.

More, from Jeff Z. Klein of the New York Times:

With his goal in Game 1 Monday, the Rangers rookie Chris Kreider tied an NHL record for most playoff goals scored in a single postseason by a player who has not yet skated in a regular-season game.

Kreider’s goal, which gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead in their 3-0 victory over the Devils, was his third of the playoffs. That tied him atop this peculiar category with Ray Cote of the 1983 Edmonton Oilers and George McPhee of the 1983 Rangers – now the general manager of the Washington Capitals, whom Kreider scored a goal against in the second round.

Kreider was not aware of the distinction when asked about it Wednesday before Game 2 at the Garden.

“That’s kind of obscure,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of thoughts about it.”

If/when Kreider gets goal No. 4, he’ll break free of Cote and McPhee and join even more elite company. Only one other player — Eddie Mazur of the Montreal Canadiens — scored four goals before playing a regular season game.

The big difference, of course, is that Mazur’s four goals came over the span of three postseasons (1951-53) whereas Kreider’s would come in a single postseason.