Golden Knights spoil return of Ryan Reaves, Gerard Gallant

There was one way to shift the attention away from the return of former Golden Knights winger Ryan Reaves and coach Gerard Gallant to T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

The Knights welcomed back two key players of their own.

Right wing Mark Stone scored in the second period in his first game since Dec. 21, and goalie Robin Lehner backstopped the Knights to a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers.

“First off, what a great night for Reaves and Gerard,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “Those guys deserve all the love they got tonight from this crowd and our fans.

“Our guys knew it was an important game. No one felt real good about how we played against Nashville. That’s what good teams do. They bounce back after an off effort with a real good game. We kept our focus and did that tonight.”

Stone missed the past four games with an undisclosed injury, but was activated from injured reserve before the game and put the Knights ahead 2-1 in the second period when he redirected Evgenii Dadonov’s return pass with his skate.

The play was reviewed, but officials ruled that Stone did not use a kicking motion to send the puck into the net.

Lehner made his first appearance since Dec. 19 and finished with 18 saves. The only goal came in the opening minute of the second period when Lehner couldn’t glove Chris Kreider’s wrist shot.

“It’s always kind of nice to get back on the ice after you’re injured,” Lehner said. “I felt pretty good. I’ve been working hard to get back.”

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, including a power-play goal late in the first period, to help the Knights end a two-game winless skid.

Mattias Janmark had a goal in the second period after making a power move to the net, and Brett Howden scored in the third against his former club.

The Rangers played without No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who was placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol, and also were missing leading scorer Artemi Panarin (COVID protocol).

“It felt awesome just to see (Gallant) there,” Marchessault said. “Obviously it was a big game for him, but for us it was more like business as usual, and we needed the two points to get back in the win column.”

Here are three takeaways from the game:

1. Spoiled reunion

Gallant made his first appearance at T-Mobile Arena since he was fired by the Knights two years ago this month and received a loud ovation from the announced crowd of 18,117 when his tribute video was shown on the scoreboard before the opening faceoff.

Gallant, who led the Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season and won the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year, gave a wave to the crowd. But the Knights remain the only team he hasn’t defeated in his coaching career.

“The players and I knew what to expect,” Gallant said. “It’s electric, it’s a fun building to play in, and they’re going from the drop of the puck right to the end of the game. A lot of fun for the home team, and tonight we couldn’t keep them quiet.”

Reaves was given the start against his former club and dished out two hits on his first shift. The fans yelled Reaves’ name as he stalked defenseman Brayden McNabb and put him into the glass before heading to the bench.

However, the fourth-line winger was on the ice for the final three Knights’ goals.

“I’ll be honest, when they played the video, it kind of got to me a little bit,” Reaves said. “I wasn’t expecting that. I was a little flustered for the rest of the game. When you’re attached to the city like I was here and had some good times here, obviously, memories kind of start flooding in a bit.

“I’m not an emotional guy. I wasn’t expecting that at all, but it got to me a little bit and messed with my game a little, obviously.”

2. Cy Young contender 

Marchessault converted on a power play late in the first period, pouncing on a loose puck in front of the net after his initial shot was stopped.

He added his second with 7:01 to play and has 18 goals against only eight assists.

That stat line resembles a starting pitcher’s and hearkens back to Marchessault’s season in Florida when he had 30 goals, 21 assists and wasn’t afraid to shoot from anywhere on the ice.

In his first four seasons with the Knights, Marchessault never finished with more goals than assists. He was fourth on the team in helpers last season, but he’s turned into the finisher on the Misfit Line.

Marchessault is tied for ninth in the NHL in goals with Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel and Calgary’s Andrew Mangiapane, whose 18-3 stat line will be hard for Marchessault to top.

“It doesn’t matter who scores every night. We just want to play the right way as a line,” Marchessault said. “When we have a shot to take, it doesn’t matter who it is, we got to take it. Being able to do it that way because I think all three of us are pretty good shooters. It’s just the way it goes.”

3. Janmark makes impact

After watching Nashville’s Filip Forsberg flip the puck around Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo before scoring Tuesday, Janmark used his own version of the move to score in the second period.

Janmark moved down the right wing against the Rangers’ Libor Hajek and slid the puck under the stick of the defenseman. He avoided being tied up and flipped a shot over the shoulder of goalie Alexandar Georgiev.

After contracting COVID-19 at the start of the season, Janmark didn’t fully recover until a month later, according to DeBoer. He has five goals in his past five games after producing two in the first 27 while he battled long-haul symptoms.

“He really took one for the team there (early in the season) because it obviously affected his stat line and everything else personally,” DeBoer said. “And now he’s feeling good, and he’s skating as well as he’s skated since he’s been here with us. He’s been really effective every night for us.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.