Kreider: From NCAA to Stanley Cup playoffs

OTTAWA -- Henrik Lundqvist has the guitar and the resume. Brian Boyle has three goals in three playoff games. Both are being treated like rock stars by the swarm of North American media at the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, which moves to Game 4 Wednesday night with the Rangers ahead two games to one.

Boyle's stall area in the visitors' room is so awash with press that stranded locker neighbor Artem Anisimov wanted to form a line and charge each person $5 to talk to his pal.

But Chris Kreider, the 20-year-old rookie forward from Boxford, Mass., who made his NHL debut in Monday's 1-0 win, is generating his share of interest, as well. One difference: The flood of congratulatory text messages after the game "cost my parents too much money," he said. "I don't have a Canada plan."

The Rangers, however, do have a plan for the big, speedy forward, who was the club's No. 1 pick in 2009 and signed a three-year, entry-level contract April 10 after forgoing his senior year at Boston College.

"As I look toward the future for this guy, what he did and how he handled himself prior to the game -- forget about what he did on the ice -- it's a really good thing," coach John Tortorella said. "I have really good thoughts on how this kid's going to progress to be a pro."

After all, as Tortorella said, Kreider not only was suddenly thrust into the lineup when Carl Hagelin was suspended for three games, the Rangers "had just lost a playoff game, we're going into an away building, [he's] playing on a top line, coming out of college and winning a championship there. It's a hard situation."

Indeed, in the past quarter-century, only one NHL player has won the NCAA championship and debuted in the same season: Tony Hrkac, with the St. Louis Blues in 1987.

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Hrkac, a 5-10 center who attended the University of North Dakota, skated in three playoff games with the Blues, went on to play 18 years with eight other teams, had 132 goals and 239 assists in 758 games and won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999. Hrkac also appeared in 41 playoff games. Those are numbers off the radar right now for Kreider, who will dress for his second NHL playoff game Wednesday night.

During Games 1 and 2, Kreider was told to watch Hagelin and take notes on his forechecking, but few expected he would have to step into the Swedish rookie's skates, at least temporarily, and have him ask questions about how to mesh with Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards.

Kreider described the conversations with both he and Richards as helpful and constructive and described himself as wanting to be "a sponge" to soak up all the advice.

Richards said the intense playoff pace left Kreider "gassed" in the first period Monday, but that he improved in the second, and played 11:11.

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"I felt good about it in retrospect," said Kreider, the first Rangers rookie to debut in the playoffs since Lauri Korpikoski in 2008. "It was a lot harder than I thought it would be . . . very taxing. A challenge every single shift."

One noticeable difference from college, besides the speed, said Kreider, was "the structure. Everyone is in the right place."

Even when Hagelin returns, expect the Blueshirts to find the right place for Kreider.