To read more of this story, click here

Against Montreal on Feb 23, Christian Thomas made his NHL debut.

Thomas was called up as an injury replacement and was then sent down when the Rangers activated Darroll Powe off of IR.

He told the Daily News, that the experience of playing in the NHL was “great” and said that he felt more comfortable as the game went on, “by the third period, I felt it was just another game out there.”

In terms of the three hits that Thomas had, he told Ranger Rants that he was just following advice from his dad, “be physical, be hard on the forecheck. Smaller guys have to do that to be successful and I just tried to get it out of the way early.”

Thomas spoke with Bob Crawford of the Whale and said, “I was called up because of the way I was playing here so I was thinking of just playing the same way as I was here and I think I played an alright first game.”

Thomas said that he struggled at the start with the pace and different style of hockey in the AHL but thinks his game has gotten a lot better as he has adapted.

According to the AHL Transaction wire, via Andrew Gross, the Rangers have sent Christian Thomas back to Hartford.

Thomas played on Saturday in the Rangers loss to Montreal.

Thomas played 12:46 on Saturday and had two shots and three hits.

He was called up on Saturday morning.

Thomas had to be sent down to make room for Darroll Powe after Powe was activated from IR

To read more of this story, click here

Early this morning, the Rangers called up Christian Thomas from the Whale.

Thomas is traveling from Hartford to Montreal and is expected to be in the Rnagers linup

Thomas will wear 58, a number he has worn in Traverse City, according to the Rangers website.

Christian Thomas gets call to join NYR. If he works as hard as his dad Steve, whose drive was almost Tonelli-like, he'll be ok.—
Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL) February 23, 2013

Chris Kreider told the NY Post that Thomas is “very high in skill.”

John Tortorella, via Ranger Rants, said of Thomas “I haven’t spent enough time with Christian to really understand who he is. I know he’s a hard working kid and scored a lot of goals along the way here. He’s played better and better with the minor league team. We just hope if he does play he gives a little bit of spark and then we’ll get to know him.”

Thomas told the Hartford Courant this week that he feels he has really started to adjust to the AHL after 50 or so games and that the jump from the OHL was quite large.

According to the AHL website, the Rangers have called up Christian Thomas.

THIS SECTION has most of the goals that Thomas has scored this season for the Whale.

Thomas has 13 goals and 11 assists in 52 games for the Whale this season. He has 104 shots on goal and eight points in his last nine games.

Thomas has four goals in his past five games.

In his past three games, Thomas has 15 shots.

The Whale have won five in a row

In the Whale’s 4-1 win over St John last night, Christian Thomas had an empty net goal and two assists.

Thomas was a plus three and both of his assists were primary assists.

On the season, Thomas has ten goals and ten assists.

In his last 15 games, Thomas has two goals and three assists and 34 shots.

Leslie Treff writes at Hockey’s Future that while a lot was expected of Thomas coming into this season, he is still adjusting to the pro game. She notes that has seen extensive PP time and has been getting more ice time as of late.

Thomas’ dad, Steve, spoke to NJ.com, about how important playing in the AHL during the lockout, with all the NHLers playing there, will help Christian in the long run.