In true Chris Kreider fashion, not even his 50th goal of the season could take his mind off a loss.

The focus after the Rangers’ 4-2 loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden was on how the game slipped away toward the end of the second period, instead of Kreider joining the likes of Jaromir Jagr, Adam Graves and Vic Hadfield in the organization’s elite 50-goal club with his third-period score.

“It’s hard after a game like that where we were in it, we were doing a lot of good things,” Kreider said after the loss, which gave the Hurricanes a four-point cushion at the top of the Metropolitan Division standings. “I think it would’ve meant a lot more if we found a way to win that game. But I think it’s something I’ll appreciate. It’s hard to appreciate right now.”

It was only difficult for Kreider to appreciate, since the longest tenured Ranger will do anything he can to keep the attention on the team’s success as opposed to his own individual accolades. And in what has been a career season for Kreider, who is now tied with the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl for the second-most goals in the NHL, he’s had to deflect a lot.

Kreider is currently tied with Hadfield for the third-most goals in a single season in Rangers history. The record was set at 54 by Jagr in 2005-06. Plus, the 25 power-play goals Kreider has scored this season not only leads the whole league, but is also a franchise record.

It doesn’t stop there. Kreider is just the eighth NHL player to score 50 goals for the first time in his 10th season or later and the fourth to notch that many goals for the first time at 30 years old or older.

In his previous nine seasons, Kreider could never eclipse the 30-goal mark, reaching 28 twice and finishing with 20 or more six times. He has since blown those statistics out of the water, notching career highs in goals and points (71) this season.

Kreider won’t ever take his moment in the spotlight, especially not after a loss that saw the Rangers give up three goals in the third to the Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal and an empty-netter from Sebastian Aho. His Rangers teammates, however, have had a lot of practice in deflecting some much-deserved attention on Kreider this season.

“We’ve said it all year, he’s a leader for us as a team,” said defenseman Adam Fox, who was on the ice for two of the Hurricanes’ four goals along with defensive partner Ryan Lindgren. “Obviously, a lot of hard work goes into scoring goals. I think Chris will be the first one to deflect it to the team and everything like that, but at the end of the day, he’s the one putting the puck in the back of the net. Fifty is a great accomplishment. We’re all super happy for him in here.”

Between the hype that surrounds such a milestone and the fact that his teammates were noticeably looking to feed him the puck, Kreider said he was happy to get No. 50 over with.

“I think it’s better for the whole team now that we can just go back to playing hockey,” he said. “We’ve got some absolutely incredible people in that room who were pulling for me, and that means the whole world to me. But put it behind us and everyone go back to shooting the puck and I can go back to screening the goalie.”