Reaves bolstering Vegas’ fourth line with smarter play

After his first two games with the Vegas Golden Knights in late February, there weren’t many fans who were happy with Ryan Reaves.

He arrived from Pittsburgh and immediately made his presence known with six penalty minutes in a home-and-home series against Los Angeles, both losses. The Vegas faithful thought team chemistry was ruined.

“Ruin the whole team, yeah?” Reaves joked. “I apologize to Vegas.”

Vegas wasn’t the only one he apologized to. Reaves immediately went to coach Gerard Gallant after those Kings games to acknowledge that while he didn’t necessarily agree with the penalties, he also would not be taking silly penalties and disrupt what Gallant and general manager George McPhee worked hard to build.

“He was up front, and he took responsibility, but I said, ‘Just play your game, that’s why we got you, to play your game and work hard’ and he’s been excellent ever since,” Gallant said. “He doesn’t take penalties, he really doesn’t.”

Reaves believes it’s been his on-ice intelligence and hockey IQ that has made him an effective teammate over nine seasons in St. Louis, Pittsburgh and now Vegas, where he’s since become a crowd favourite.

“My fights have gone down every year,” Reaves said. “I only had six this year and all within the first two or three months (with Pittsburgh). I think there’s always going to be physical play in this league, and as long as I can keep up and and be able to catch guys and do it in a way that’s not hurting the team, then yeah, I think I got a spot here.”

Especially after scoring what may have been the biggest goals in franchise history.

In Game 5 of the Western Conference Final in his hometown of Winnipeg, Reaves scored the game-winning goal that sent the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final.

And in Game 1 against the Capitals on Monday, he scored the game-tying goal before linemate Tomas Nosek put the game-winner past Braden Holtby in a 6-4 victory that gave Vegas a 1-0 series lead.

“Playoff hockey you have to be a little smarter, you got to be a little faster, everything is kind of magnified,” Reaves said.

Since Reaves was re-inserted into the lineup midway through the second round of the playoffs, the fourth line has clicked more often than not.

Shedding his overly aggressive tactics, Reaves has adapted to playing Vegas’ simple northsouth game, while learning how to make the right decisions and build chemistry with Nosek and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.