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The Boston College hockey players who ventured to TD Garden to watch their former teammate Ryan Leonard make his NHL debut with the Capitals on Tuesday night were in attendance for their other former teammate, Gabe Perreault, as he did the same with the Rangers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Rangers prospect Drew Fortescue and Canadiens goalie prospect Jacob Fowler were among the contingent of eight teammates in Boston and New York.
“It was pretty cool for them to do that,” Perreault said after an optional morning skate, before he posted three shots on goal in 13:38 of ice time in the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime win. “I’m pretty excited that they’re coming to mine, too.”
Along with his BC teammates, Perreault also had both his parents, his brother and sister in attendance for his first official NHL game.
Perreault is fresh off the No. 1-seeded Boston College’s season-ending loss to No. 3 seed Denver on Sunday in the NCAA Manchester regional Final.
“It’s definitely a quick turnaround,” he said. “Obviously, been a crazy couple of days, but kind of just trying to flip the switch as fast as I can and be ready to help the team.”
The 19-year-old made his NHL debut on the Rangers’ second line next to Alexis Lafreniere and J.T. Miller.
“Super fun,” Perreault said of his debut. “Playing in this building is something I’ve never done before, and to finally get to be able to do it was unreal.”
With a goal and two assists, Artemi Panarin posted his sixth three-point effort of the season, as well as his 60th since the 2019-20 season (fifth most in NHL).
Panarin cashed in on a breakaway at the end of the second period to notch his 34th goal of the season and give the Rangers a 4-3 lead going into the third period.
Matt Rempe missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.
He served as a scratch alongside Zac Jones (healthy), Juuso Parssinen (healthy) Calvin de Haan (healthy) and Nicolas Aube-Kubel (healthy).
Chris Kreider was bumped to the fourth line alongside Sam Carrick and Brett Berard.
That left a third line that featured Will Cuylle, Mika Zibanejad and Jonny Brodzinski.
Cuylle was named this year’s Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner, as voted by the fans for the Ranger who “goes above and beyond the call of duty.”
“It was pretty cool,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a huge honor.
Such a longstanding tradition and to see the other names that have won the award it’s pretty cool to be listed with some of those names.”
Former Ranger Mats Zuccarello wore a No. 40 jersey with a Rosen nameplate during warm-ups in honor of Rangers broadcaster Sam Rosen, who is set to retire at the conclusion of this season.
