Chris Kreider thrilled to be back in playoffs at Madison Square Garden

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Everyone wonders what it’s going to be like for the Rangers’ young kids — Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko, K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider — when they play their first NHL playoff game Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the teams’ best-of-seven first-round series.

But for Chris Kreider, who has played in 80 playoff games in his NHL career and scored 24 goals, Tuesday will be his first postseason game in front of the Garden fans since the Rangers lost to the Ottawa Senators in the second round in 2017.

“It feels like a long time ago now,’’ Kreider said Monday after practice. “And I was in a different position, being kind of a young guy on that team and just worried about not stepping on eggshells. But I think regardless of whether you’re on a team that’s been to the playoffs multiple years in a row, as a veteran, as young, I mean, there’s always excitement this time of year. There’s always butterflies, and guys are just excited to come to the rink. They’re excited to compete and play.’’

Kreider, who turned 31 on Saturday, said he is excited, too, even if his calm, dispassionate media session Monday didn’t necessarily show it.

“This is what you play 82 [regular-season games] for, is to get an opportunity to play in the playoffs, playing these rounds, playing these games,’’ he said.

In his 10th season, Kreider produced a career year. He was the third-leading goal-scorer in the league with 52, shattering his previous career high of 28, which he’d done twice before. His 26 power-play goals led the league and his 11 game-winners were tied for the league lead with three other players.

Most of his goals came from just in front of the net, on deflections and tip-ins and the occasional rebound. It’s an art Kreider has worked on and refined over the years. Opposing teams know where he is going to be most of the time, but no one seems to be able to move his 6-3, 217-pound frame out from in front of the goal crease, nor do they seem able to tie up his stick when the puck is coming toward the goal.

“It’s something that we work on every day,’’ Kreider said. “It’s something that’s really important for the entire roster to do over the course of this series, and beyond that. I mean, we’ve been focused on that.

“This is a team that’s capable of scoring a lot of pretty goals, but for us to have success, it’s constantly getting on the inside and getting pucks and bodies to the net.’’

Kreider said he is looking forward to feeling the energy inside the Garden for playoff games.

“The support that we have, and the noise, is hard to put into words,’’ he said. “There really isn’t a better place to play playoff hockey, especially as a home team.’’

As for the nuts and bolts of what the Rangers will need to beat the Penguins in the series, Kreider said that while the Rangers’ power play — which finished fourth-best in the league with a 25.2% success rate — will be important, outscoring the Penguins at even strength will be a bigger key. Pittsburgh’s penalty kill finished third in the league, killing 84.4% of opponents’ power plays.

“It’s always going to be more difficult to score power-play goals in the playoffs,’’ Kreider said. “The ice gets chopped up a lot quicker, the building gets a little warmer [and] teams seem to pressure that much harder . . . It’s got to be five-on-five, [and] our kill’s got to be good. Pittsburgh’s obviously a very, very good team and has been for a very long time. So we have to be detailed.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.