Chris Kreider a late scratch vs. Penguins in sudden Rangers injury concern

Chris Kreider was a late scratch for the Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

After taking the PPG Paints Arena ice for warmups and participating in line rushes ahead of the Blueshirts’ eventual 5-3 win over the Penguins, Kreider was ruled out with an upper-body injury as the final lineups were due.

The Rangers classified the 33-year-old as day to day. Head coach Peter Laviolette didn’t offer any more information than that.

As a result, Arthur Kaliyev, who appeared to be heading toward a healthy scratch Sunday, slotted back into the lineup on the fourth line alongside Jonny Brodzinski and Matt Rempe.

Kreider — who played for Team USA in its 4 Nations Face-Off final loss to Canada on Thursday before scoring a goal in the Rangers’ loss to the Sabres on Saturday — has been dealing with injuries sporadically this season.

Rangers wing Chris Kreider (l.) skates in front of Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (r.) on Feb. 22, 2025.

It began in November with back spasms that sidelined him for three games.

The longest-tenured Ranger was then put on injured reserve in January for four games with an upper-body injury.

The only other regular-season game Kreider has missed so far this season was against the Devils on Dec. 23, when he was a healthy scratch.

The Rangers went back to Igor Shesterkin in goal Sunday afternoon, after the star Russian netminder was pulled just 18:21 into the eventual 8-2 loss to the Sabres on Saturday.

The thought process was that Shesterkin didn’t see as much time as backup Jonathan Quick did in the previous game, so the Blueshirts were comfortable coming back to him for a second straight game.

Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin warms up before his start against the Penguins on Feb. 23, 2025.

It marked the first time Shesterkin has made back-to-back starts since Feb. 25-26, 2023.

Under similar circumstances to this weekend, that was when Shesterkin was pulled after the second period in Washington before the Rangers went back to him the next day at Madison Square Garden against the Kings.

Jimmy Vesey drew back into the Rangers lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the first contest out of the break on Saturday in Buffalo.

Laviolette opted to switch Mika Zibanejad back to the wing of the Rangers top line next to J.T. Miller and Artemi Panarin. The second unit of Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière remained intact.

Without Kreider, Vesey was promoted to the third line next to Sam Carrick and Reilly Smith.

With two goals in the win, including the empty-netter, Miller reached the 250-goal milestone in his career.