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So Matt Rempe returned to the lineup for Monday’s Garden match against the Lightning after missing four games with an unidentified upper-body injury. The fourth-line winger replaced fourth-line winger Brett Berard because of course that’s how it works. 

But the truth is that Chris Kreider could have come out as a healthy scratch without anyone particularly noticing the effects of No. 20’s absence on the ice and without anyone in the gallery second-guessing head coach Peter Laviolette’s decision. 

Because, and this has become part of the theme of the season, no one particularly noticed anything that Kreider did in his 13:54 of ice time in this predictable 5-1 defeat to the Lightning that leaves 2024-25 hanging by a thread. 

This is the portion of the season where we should be counting up Kreider’s career accomplishments on his way to a franchise record 24th postseason series. This is the portion where we should be celebrating the club’s most senior player who straddled the tenures of Henrik Lundqvist and Igor Shesterkin.