On Saturday night against the Arizona Coyotes, Chris Kreider scored three different ways. He started with a shorthanded goal, then added an even strength goal and finished with a power play goal. While this is rare it isn’t as unusual as you would think and a number of New York Rangers have done it before.
Goals at the three different strengths has been accomplished 162 times since the 1933-34 season (when they started keeping special teams records). The Rangers have done it 11 times, second most of any team. The Pittsburgh Penguins lead in that category , doing it 16 times, led by Mario Lemieux who did it an incredible seven times.
It was a first time for Kreider and his teammate, Mika Zibanejad, is the only other active Ranger to score three different ways and he is the only Blueshirt in franchise history to do it more than once. Last March against the Flyers, the Swede was the last Ranger before Kreider to score shorthanded, at even strength and on the power play. He did it his first time in October 2019 against the Ottawa Senators.
Here’s the list of Rangers who have scored at three different strengths in a single game:
- Dave Balon: April 5, 1970 vs Detroit Red Wings
- Bruce McGregor: March 3, 1971 vs California Gold Seals
- Don Maloney: February 4, 1981 vs New York Islanders
- Mike Rogers: November 20, 1982 at Toronto Maple Leafs
- Tony McKegney: February 24, 1987 at Buffalo Sabres
- Petr Nedved: January 24, 2000 at Atlanta Thrashers
- Brendan Shanahan: December 3, 2006 vs New York Islanders
- Derek Stepan: December 27, 2014 vs New Jersey Devils
- Mika Zibanejad: October 5, 2019 at Ottawa Senators
- Mika Zibanejad: March 17, 2021 vs Philadephia Flyers
- Chris Kreider: January 22, 2022 vs Toronto Maple Leafs
Some three-way trivia
- No Ranger got more than a hat trick when accomplishing this feat. Five NHL players did it while scoring five goals in a single game and 23 did it while scoring four times.
- The Rangers have done it seven times at Madison Square Garden and four times on the road. The Rangers never did at the old Garden.
- The only time that a Ranger did this and the team lost was in 2006 when they lost to the Islanders 7-4 at the Garden despite Brendan Shanahan’s efforts.
- Teams usually win when a player puts on this kind of scoring display. Of the 162 times an NHL player accomplished this feat, it came in a losing effort only 20 times.
- The youngest Rangers player to score three different ways was 22-year old Don Maloney in 1981.
- The oldest Ranger to do this was Brendan Shanahan who was almost 38 years old.
Of course, nothing compares to Mario Lemieux’s feat of scoring five different ways in a single game, an accomplishment that may never be matched. On New Year’s Eve in 1988, in a 8-6 win over the Devils, he also scored on a penalty shot and added an empty net goal.
While it was 1970 before a Ranger did it, the first player in the record books is Syl Apps of the Toronto Maple Leafs who got the triad in 1939.
It really points to the versatility of players like Kreider and Zibanejad who play a 200-foot game, killing penalties and on the power play. It’s something that Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Auston Matthews have never done. Even defensive specialist and annual 30-goal scorer Patrice Bergeron has not scored three different ways in the same game.
Don’t be surprised if we see Kreider duplicate this feat. This is the first time he has been a regular on the penalty kill and he has already notched two shorthanded tallies. We already know that he is one of the best at scoring on the power play and he has always been a solid even strength scorer. Kudos to Chris Kreider as he has become the well rounded player this season that we all hoped that he would be.
All data courtesy of the stathead hockey feature on hockeyreference.com.