It was an emotional night of tributes during the Rangers’ 5-2 win over the Coyotes on Thursday at the Garden.
Most impactful was the return of Derek Stepan, who had been an integral Ranger for seven seasons before an offseason trade sent him to the Coyotes. During a first-period television timeout, the scoreboard showed some of his career highlights, and it ended with his overtime goal in Game 7 of the second-round series against the Capitals in 2015.
The fans cheered loudly, and Stepan was close to tears as he touched his hand to his chest and waved.
“It was a lot,” Stepan said after the game. “I mean, it was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in my career, playing in this game.”
Stepan is in a lot different situation with the young Coyotes, now 0-9-1 as he is centering a top line with 22-year-old Max Domi and 19-year-old Clayton Keller.
“I thought it took me a period and a half to get going a little bit,” said Stepan, who finished with one shot on net in 20:21, along with a minus-3 rating. “Mentally, I wasn’t sharp. It was just hard to stay focused. Like I said, it was one of the hardest things I had to do and I’m glad that it’s over with and I can move on now.”
It was also the 1,000th career regular-season game for Rick Nash, and he got his own video tribute early in the first period.
“Before the game, I told the boys I really wanted this one and we needed our best effort,” Nash said. “It’s a special night I’ll never forget.”
Nash, 33, was drafted by the Blue Jackets with the No. 1-overall pick in 2002 and played the first 674 games of his career with that organization before being traded to the Rangers in the summer of 2012. Now 326 games into his tenure as a Rangers — to go along with 73 playoff games — he is in the final year of his contract with a $7.8 million salary-cap hit before reaching unrestricted free agency.
But the Rangers organization went all out and flew in Nash’s whole family for the game, seemingly getting to the normally straight-faced guy from Brampton, Ontario.
“They’ve been first class since I got here,” Nash said. “The guys kind of made it all about me tonight and I appreciate that. I’m not one that really likes the limelight and kind of like to be in the background. It was kind of nice.”
After being called up from AHL Hartford on Wednesday, Boo Nieves made his season debut (his second career NHL game), recording three assists. He became the first Ranger to record three assists in one of his first two NHL games since Dominic Moore in 2003.
“I wasn’t too nervous,” Nieves said. “It was only my second game but I tried to get the jitters out in warm-ups and just treat it like another game.”