Parting was such sweet sorrow for Ryan Reaves, who received a one-year, $1.75 million extension of his contract as a condition set forth by Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon in Reaves’ July 29 trade from the Golden Knights to the Rangers.

“I was in the loop on it, there was a conversation and at the end of the second day of talking I made the decision that it was probably best to part ways,” the 34-year-old winger said Friday morning, just hours before he would meet his former team at the Garden. “Sometimes in your career you have to move onto the other places. I wanted the opportunity to extend my career and keep playing.

“I think in Vegas my role would have diminished a little bit. Sometimes you’ve got to say thank you and move on.”

Despite the warm feelings for the Vegas organization and acknowledging that going to the Golden Knights from the Penguins in February 2018 resurrected, if not saved, his career, No. 75 had no intentions of being warm and fuzzy on the ice.

“You don’t want them to get the best of you, so I’ll be looking for heads,” Reaves said, presumably not literally. “It’s never fun facing your own team and losing.”

This also marked head coach Gerard Gallant’s first shot at the Golden Knights since he was unexpectedly fired by the organization on Jan. 15, 2020, with his team on a four-game losing streak with a 24-19-6 record less than two years after guiding the expansion team to the Stanley Cup final in its first season of existence.

True to form, Gallant revealed little of his feelings ahead of the contest. The coach downplayed the personal importance of the game, instead focusing on the opportunity to add another two points to the Rangers’ 19-7-3 ledger.

“It’s two years ago,” said the coach, who went 118-75-20 behind the Vegas bench in the regular season and 16-11 in the playoffs. “As coaches, it’s part of our business. We get fired, we move on, we coach somebody else.

“As a player, there’s no doubt it’s different. I got that when I played in Detroit for 10 years and my first game back was real tough. You had great people there, the whole organization, was drafted there and then left and played for Tampa. The first game back was not easy. But as a coach it’s different.”

Gallant said that he had not spoken to Reaves about the match, but expected that the winger would give no quarter to his former teammates.

“Reavo is a veteran guy, he’s been traded a few times, he’s ready to go and excited to play,” said Gallant. “Like I say, it’s probably tougher for him. He’s going to probably line up against Will Carrier tonight, they were the best of friends and linemates for a long time.

“I’m sure Reavo will try to run him over and Will will try to bump him, too.”

It was not only going to Vegas that rejuvenated Reaves’ career, it was playing for Gallant. With the Penguins, the winger got only 6:46 of ice time per game in 58 games before going to the Golden Knights after Pittsburgh had sent a first-rounder to the Blues for Reaves in summer 2017. Reaves played 9:55 per game the rest of the way before Gallant granted him a career-high 10:52 the following season, in which the enforcer recorded a single-season bests of nine goals, 11 assists and 20 points.

“I don’t think I am where I am without Turk being there, for sure,” Reaves said, using the coach’s commonly applied nickname. “He gave me countless opportunities to play and play in some bigger roles.

“We had some injuries the second year and I was on the second power play for a couple of months. I don’t think that’s an opportunity any coach would ever give me. He trusts me playing against good players. I’ve had coaches the second they see the top line out there…I’ve had a coach call a timeout because the first line was against me in the neutral zone.

“So he trusts me in all situations.”

There will be more pomp and circumstance when the Rangers play in Vegas on Jan. 6. The coach and the winger will likely be consumed by more emotions than at the Garden. Still, there is something about facing a former team, even at home.

“I’m sure there’s a little extra motivation for those guys and we want to help them out,” said Adam Fox. “But I think that taking care of business is our focus.”