The bear was prodded.
And the bear responded.
Fiercely.
One of the tense subplots leading up to Game 5 of the conference finals between the Rangers and Panthers at the Garden on Thursday night was how Chris Kreider would react to being publicly mocked by Panthers star winger Matthew Tkachuk.
Kreider scored the Rangers’ first goal of Thursday’s game.
But their efforts were in vain as they suffered a crushing 3-2 loss to the Panthers, leaving the Blueshirts trailing 3-2 in the series and one game away from elimination heading into Game 6 in Florida on Saturday night.
That was their only goal until the final minute, when Alexis Lafreniere scored in a 6-on-5 situation to ultimately secure the win.
Kreider was called out by Tkachuk after the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4 at Florida on Tuesday.
Frankly, he was being mocked by the most talkative troll in Florida.
Tkachuk’s tweak came during a short scrum 48 seconds into the third period Tuesday when Kreider tried to grab his mouthguard and throw it into the stands.
“I told him that was the best play of the game,” a grinning Tkachuk couldn’t wait to tell reporters the day after the incident.
One could argue this was the most memorable play Kreider made in the series.
Until Thursday night.
Goals have been important for the Rangers in this series, and the Panthers’ eagerness to forecheck has limited the Rangers’ scoring ability.
That’s why when Kreider stole the puck from Tkachuk (yes, that Tkachuk) on a Florida power play to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead 2:04 into the second period, it felt like a heavy cloud of stress had lifted from the sold-out Garden crowd.
And so is Kreider, who hadn’t scored a point in the first four games of the series.
It was a spectacular goal, his eighth of the postseason and his second shorthanded.
Kreider stole the ball from Tkachuk, then passed it to Mika Zibajed, who passed it back to Kreider for a run into the Florida zone.
From there, Kreider worked a move to his right to get past Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and then smashed a backhand shot past Bobrovsky into the open goal.
Kreider celebrated by throwing himself against the glass behind the goal and being surrounded by his teammates.
“He’s done a great job,” Rangers manager Peter Laviolette said of Kreider in a post-game television interview with ESPN. “He’s a pro. He’s been in a lot of playoff games. He handled it really well.”
Kreider, who scored 39 goals in the regular season, had no goals or assists in the first four games of the series and took just five shots in the four games on Thursday.
It seems like only yesterday that Kreider put the Rangers in the lead in the series with a natural hat trick in Game 6 finale against the Hurricanes, orchestrating a memorable third period that will forever be remembered as legend.
The Post follows Rangers coverage in the NHL playoffs
The offensive slump that has put the Rangers’ Stanley Cup hopes on the brink of collapse isn’t just about Kreider.
Zibanejad last scored a goal 11 games ago in the series opener against Carolina and hadn’t scored a point in the series prior to his assist on Kreider’s goal.
Artemi Panarin, who led the team with 49 goals and 120 points during the regular season, entered Thursday’s game having scored his final goal in Game 3 of the Carolina series eight games earlier.
In this series, the Panthers’ suffocating forecheck narrowed the ice for the Rangers’ star scorers, and the Blueshirts were unable to counter with a suitable answer.
Until Thursday.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, it wasn’t enough.
