On Henrik Lundqvist night at Madison Square Garden, where Rangers from the past and present
honored the legendary goalie
, the Wild sent out a familiar face to take the ceremonial puck drop: forward Mats Zuccarello.
Rangers fans in attendance let out a loud and prolonged "Zuuuucc" as Zucarello, who played with Lundqvist on the Rangers from 2010-2019, skated to center ice.
"It was a perfect day, you know," Zuccarello said following the Wild's 3-2 win. "Being here for Hank's day, seeing him yesterday and his family. With COVID and everything that's going on I haven't seen him in a while or his family in a while. So that was a great day yesterday. And obviously (tonight) very emotional and a great ceremony."
Lundqvist, on the carpet walk to drop the puck, joined the crowd in their cheers when it was announced Zuccarello would be taking the face-off opposite Rangers alternate captain Mika Zibanejad, who skated to center ice with a huge bouquet for Lundqvist's wife, Therese.
"It's obviously a huge honor and then seeing Zucc on the other side we just had that reunion or whatever you want to call it. That was pretty cool. Just a great honor," Zibanejad said.
Therese immediately had a warm hug for Zucarello, who was given the puck by Zibanejad and hugged Lundqvist and his daughters, Charlise and Juli, before heading back to the Wild bench.
The Rangers traded Zuccarello to the Dallas Stars in February of 2019. He signed with the Wild as a free agent that July.
