Ex-Golden Knights coaching, playing in Eastern Conference Final

Golden Knights fans will spot plenty of familiar faces when the Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning begins Wednesday.

Former Knights coach Gerard Gallant, former assistant Mike Kelly and fan favorite Ryan Reaves are part of a Rangers team that defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes to reach the final four. Original Misfit Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is helping the Lightning attempt to win three straight Stanley Cups after signing as a free agent last offseason.

“I was fortunate enough to get (to the finals) a few years ago with Vegas, and again, it was sort of an underdog-type team that nobody expected to get there,” Gallant said Tuesday. “We had a lot of fun. We battled hard every game. We had a great group of character players. … Unfortunately, we fell a little short, but it was a great experience for me to get that far in the playoffs as a coach.”

Gallant led the Rangers to a 52-24-6 record in his first season in New York in his first NHL job since being fired by the Knights. He was replaced by Pete DeBoer on Jan. 15, 2020, after leading the team to a 118-75-20 record (.601 points percentage) over parts of three seasons and an appearance in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

DeBoer was 98-50-12 (.650 points percentage) with the Knights and led them to final fours in the playoffs in 2020 and 2021. He was fired May 16 after the franchise missed the playoffs for the first time.

DeBoer’s replacement has yet to be named.

“I think we’ve had really good coaching (for) five years,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said after firing DeBoer. “Gerard did a good job in his time here. Pete did a good job in his time here. We expect the next coach is going to do a really good job for us.”

Reaves was traded to the Rangers on July 29 for a 2022 third-round pick. The physical right wing, who joined the Knights midway through their inaugural season, had five goals and eight assists in 69 games for New York. He was third in the NHL in hits with 279, but the Rangers were minus-14 with him on the ice at five-on-five.

Reaves has no points in 14 playoff games. The Rangers have scored one goal and allowed one goal with him on the ice at five-on-five.

Bellemare, 37, is providing important depth on a star-studded Lightning roster. He scored 20 points in 80 games in the regular season and has scored two goals in 11 playoff games. He’s Tampa Bay’s third-most used forward on a penalty kill unit that has held opponents to five goals on 41 opportunities this postseason (12.2 percent).

Bellemare played for the Knights in their first two seasons.

“You don’t win two Cups in a row like that in this time without having a locker room that is solid,” Bellemare said of his new team. “One of the things that I’ve realized is that our game plan doesn’t change. The team trusts the game plan, trusts the system, and regardless of how the game goes, we’re going to stick with it.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.