It's been nearly three years since the Rangers traded one of Mats Zuccarello's best friends, Carl Hagelin, and close to two years since they dealt another one of his close pals, Derick Brassard.
Brassard and Hagelin are now reunited with the contending Penguins, who visited the Rangers on Wednesday night and with whom Hagelin has won a Stanley Cup each of the last two seasons, and Zuccarello admitted it's a strange sight.
"(Hagelin) and Brass are two of my best friends. To see them together there is kind of weird," he said. "But they have a good team. I wish them good luck _ not (Wednesday,) but in the future. We're not friends (Wednesday.) During the season we talk a lot."
Hagelin scored and Brassard earned an assist in a 4-3 Rangers overtime win finished off by Mika Zibanejad and broadcasted by NBCSN, which featured Susan Sarandon between the benches with Pierre McGuire during the first period.
The verdict on Twitter was overwhelmingly negative regarding the head-scratching decision to have the 71-year-old actress, a longtime Rangers fan, be part of the coverage. While NBC hoped this would help the game have a broader reached, a number of fans tweeted about muting their televisions or turning the game off altogether. Sarandon was the third guest NBCSN had this season in such a role on its hockey coverage. Eagles linebacker Mychal Kendricks and NASCAR driver Joey Logano were previous guests.
The Rangers tied the game twice in the third and Alexandar Georgiev stopped an Evegni Malkin penalty shot with 10.7 seconds left in regulation after Georgiev was assessed a delay of game for bumping the net off its moorings.
Brassard, who's shown a knack for raising his game during the playoffs and was acquired by Pittsburgh at the deadline, faced the Penguins in each of the last four postseasons, thrice with the Rangers and once with Ottawa last year.
"I couldn't really believe it because a couple of years ago I was playing here, faced (the Penguins) a couple of times, faced those guys with Ottawa," Brassard said. "I would've never thought a couple of years ago I'd be playing here (with Pittsburgh.)"
Hagelin said he was napping the day before the trade deadline when he awoke to see a missed call from Brassard, immediately assuming something had happened.
"Just being out there on the ice today for the morning skate and seeing him on my team in that building against the Rangers, it's special, but that's part of the business. That's how it goes," Hagelin said.
Acquiring Brassard symbolized Penguins GM Jim Rutherford's commitment to a three-peat, adding a player who's been a top-six center to play on the third line behind longtime stars Sidney Crosby and Malkin. Brassard had 44 points in 59 postseason games with the Blueshirts.
"For us, it seemed like the bigger the game, the better he played," Alain Vigneault said of Brassard, whom he coached for three years. "It seems like when playoffs come around he plays his best hockey of the year."
