Golden Knights surge past Rangers, spoil return of Gallant, Reaves

LAS VEGAS -- The New York Rangers lost 5-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights in coach Gerard Gallant's return to T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Gallant, the first coach in Golden Knights history, was 118-75-20 with Vegas before he was fired in his third season on Jan. 15, 2020 and replaced by Peter DeBoer.
"We played against a good team tonight," Gallant said. "Obviously I would have liked to win tonight, coming back to this building."
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice for his fourth multigoal game of the season, and Reilly Smith had two assists for the Golden Knights (23-13-1) who are 11-3-1 in their last 15.
Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves starting for the second consecutive game for the Rangers (22-9-4), whose three-game winning streak ended.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol before the game. Keith Kinkaid was called up from the taxi squad to back up Georgiev.
"There's nothing he could have done, there was just too many shots and too much pressure around the net. I thought he was fine," Gallant said of Georgiev. "He wasn't the issue at all."

Forward Ryan Reaves, who played four seasons for the Golden Knights, also returned for the first time since being traded to the Rangers on July 29.
Reaves was minus-3 in 12:06. He was given a video tribute, along with Gallant, in the first period.
"I'll be honest, it kind of got to me a little bit," Reaves said of the video. "I wasn't expecting that. I was a little flustered for the rest of the game."
Marchessault, who was selected from the Florida Panthers in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, played 22 games under Gallant with the Panthers in 2016-17.
"'Turk' has been great for my career, starting with my time in Florida. It was obviously really nice to see him," Marchessault said. "He's always a treat to be around and I was lucky enough to be coached by that guy for a couple of years. It's unbelievable to have a quality guy coach you like that."
Robin Lehner made 18 saves, and Mark Stone scored in their returns to the lineup for Vegas. Lehner missed five games due to a lower-body injury, while Stone missed four with an upper-body injury.
"I felt pretty good. Been working hard to get back," Lehner said. "It was nice to get back and get a win."
Marchessault gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 18:35 of the first period with a power-play goal.
Chris Kreider tied it 1-1 52 seconds into the second period with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, and the puck bounced off Lehner's glove.
Stone gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead at 8:14 of the second when the puck deflected off his skate. The call was upheld after video review determined Stone did not kick it in.

Mattias Janmark made it 3-1 at 13:08 of the second for his fifth goal in five games.
"We had a good start to the game, played a good first period," Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "I think in the second we kind of fueled their transition a bit and they're a good transition team. They made us pay and things just fell apart after that."
Brett Howden, who played his first three NHL seasons with the Rangers, scored at 2:11 of the third to make it 4-1, and Marchessault made it 5-1 on a 2-on-1 at 12:59.
Vegas won 3-2 in a shootout at New York on Dec. 17.
"It was fun to see [Gallant] there and obviously it was a big game for him," Marchessault said. "But for us, it was business as usual and we got the two points to get back in the win column here."
Gallant won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2017-18 after leading the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season.
"I was happy the first 25 minutes, I thought we played great. I was really happy with the way the game was going to be," Gallant said. "Thought it was going to be a 3-2 game for somebody and it's too bad it fell apart on us. We'll regroup."
NOTES: Kreider's goal was his 378th NHL point, tying him with Brad Park for 19th place on the Rangers' all-time list. … Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad had his seven-game point streak against the Golden Knights end; he had a point in every meeting prior. … Howden scored against his former team for the second time this season. The forward was traded to the Golden Knights by the Rangers on July 17; he scored one goal last season with New York.