Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant summed it up perfectly after Ryan Reaves’ picked the perfect time to score his first two goals of the season.
“Well, it’s about time,” he said with a grin.
The fourth-line enforcer scored a pair of goals to help spark the Rangers’ comeback 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night — potting the Rangers’ lone goal in a first period they exited trailing 3-1 before getting his second just three minutes into the second period to cut the Blueshirts’ deficit to a goal.
It kicked off a string of five successive goals netted by the Rangers to cap off an impressive third straight win and their seventh triumph in nine games.
Down 2-0 in the first period, Reaves received a pass alone in front of Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell off a pass from the right corner from Greg McKegg. After a quick gather, he snapped his chance over the netminder’s right pads, just inside the left post.
It was Reaves’ first goal since March 17 of last season when he was with the Vegas Golden Knights — which was also his lone goal of the season. Quite a long time coming for the right-winger, who turned 35 on Thursday.
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“You never want to go three months without scoring, I tend to do that a lot in my career,” Reaves said. “It feels good to get them out of the way, especially in this barn. Hopefully, they keep coming now.”
While Reaves credited taking his vitamins, a bad nap, and a Red Bull for his performance, Gallant opted to hone in on his veteran’s work ethic.
“He looks like he’s quick. His feet are moving. He’s worked hard in practice lately… he’s a different player,” Gallant said. “His feet are moving, he’s around the puck. He’s a big guy forechecking like that. People don’t like to get hit with those people. You can’t blame some of those defensemen for that.”
He had to use his patented strength to shed off a defender for his second goal of the game, which came off a rebound at Campbell’s right post before slotting a tough-angled attempt between the pads and the post.
“He gets around that net and he scored a couple big goals for us,” Gallant said. “He was real excited and I know our team loves it when he gets in front of the net and scores those goals. He started the comeback and it was real big for us.”
The win allowed the Rangers to keep their perch atop the Metropolitan Division — though Friday night brings another big test in a Carolina Hurricanes team that has played four fewer games than New York but sits just two points back of them in the standings.
“This shows our maturity. It shows that we can hang with the big boys and that we are one of the big boys,” Reaves said. “We have to keep beating the playoff teams. I think we’re proving to the league and proving to ourselves that we’re a contender.”
