Rangers coach Gerard Gallant, citing leadership, puts Ryan Reaves in lineup for Game 1 vs. Penguins
Ryan Reaves #75 of the Rangers celebrates his second period goal against the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
All the “I”s were dotted and “T”s were crossed by the time the puck dropped for Game 1 of the Rangers’ first-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, but Rangers coach Gerard Gallant still had just one or two last-minute lineup decisions to make.
Ultimately, Gallant opted for 35-year-old Ryan Reaves as the final forward in, giving him the nod over Dryden Hunt, who played in 76 of the 82 regular season games and scored the game-winning goal in Friday’s regular season finale against Washington. Hunt had six goals and 11 assists in 76 games; Reaves had 5-8-13 in 69.
“I mean, we all know what ‘Reavo’ brings to our team, but he brings more than what people see on the outside,’’ Gallant had said Monday. “He's an important guy. He's a leader. He's a character guy. He makes people pay a price, keeps people off our guys. He does his job well, and Huntsy's played really well for us too... they're always tough decisions. That's what the good part of the game is.’’
With a fully healthy lineup to start the playoffs, Gallant’s top two lines were locked in, and he had to settle on whether to go with his Kid Line of Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko, and if so, then he needed to decide between dressing Reaves or Hunt for the fourth line.
For their practices on Sunday and Monday, Gallant had the Kid Line together — Lafrenière, Kakko and Chytil are 20, 21 and 22 – and went with four players — Reaves, Hunt, Kevin Rooney and Barclay Goodrow – rotating through three spots on the fourth line.
Gallant said the fourth line would be an important piece of his lineup.
“Obviously you don't match them up against the [Sidney] Crosby line, but they’ve got to be effective and they're going to be solid,’’ he said.
Notes & quotes: The Rangers in the morning called up G Adam Huska from AHL Hartford to join the taxi squad. Keith Kinkaid, the Farmingville native, is day-to-day with an upper body injury, the team said… Gallant dressed 19 players for warmups, including D Justin Braun, but he was scratched, along with forwards Hunt, Greg McKegg, Julien Gauthier, Jonny Brodzinski and D Libor Hajek.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
