Ryan Reaves ‘looking for heads’ when Rangers face Knights
New York Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Friday’s game against the Golden Knights is just another two points.
But Rangers winger Ryan Reaves isn’t fooled.
“I’m sure he wants to win just as much as me, maybe a little bit more,” Reaves said. “I’m sure this one’s important for him. … I’m sure it would be nice to stick it to them for him, for sure.”
Gallant and Reaves face their former club for the first time when the Rangers (19-7-3, 41 points) host the surging Knights at Madison Square Garden.
While Reaves stated the obvious, Gallant downplayed the matchup against the team that fired him almost two years ago after leading the expansion club to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season.
“If I was a young coach maybe, but now, being around for a while, you get your team prepared to play the same way you get them prepared to play every night,” Gallant said. “Sure, I know a lot of the players on the other side and management and the staff and all that. But it doesn’t change anything for us.”
Gallant was 118-75-20, winning a Pacific Division title and the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year. But with the team mired in a midseason slump, he was fired Jan. 15, 2020, and replaced by former San Jose coach Pete DeBoer.
The previous spring, during a contentious Western Conference quarterfinal series, Gallant called DeBoer a “clown” during a news conference prior to Game 7. This will be the fourth meeting between the coaches since that incident.
Gallant is in his first season with New York and has the Rangers tied in points with first-place Carolina and Washington in the Metropolitan Division.
“I’m going to go out and do what we do as coaches,” Gallant said. “Obviously this is one team I’ve never coached against, so that’ll make it interesting for sure. But we’re going to go out and do our job, do what we do and coach the game. I’m not going to do anything different.”
Reaves was a fan favorite during his three-plus seasons with the Knights and scored the series-clinching goal of the 2018 Western Conference Final against Winnipeg. But the rugged winger saw his playing time diminish last season and was traded in July for a 2022 third-round pick.
“I think we all know, these ones are always important,” Reaves said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the coach or an ex-player. You always want to get a win for the guy. It’s never fun facing your old team and losing.
“A lot of good memories. Made a lot of good friends. Great community there. Nothing negative to say about that organization, for sure. But you don’t want them to get the best of you. I’ll be looking for heads.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.