There wasn’t a moment during the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime win over the Wild on Monday night that you didn’t know where Mats Zuccarello was.

In his first appearance at Madison Square Garden since getting traded to the Stars before the trade deadline last season, Zuccarello was graciously welcomed back to New York. From the heartfelt cheers that echoed as the fan-favorite was one of the last skaters on the ice for warm-ups, to the vibrating ‘ZUUUUUC’ chant that followed the call for him to take the ceremonial puck drop at center ice.

Not to mention the booming chorus of his name from the stands when he skated back to Minnesota’s bench after embracing his teammate of 5 ½ seasons, Jesper Fast, at center ice. Or how the crowd roared Zuccarello’s name when he first touched the puck in his opening shift — and every time after that.

It was an emotional return for the Norwegian winger, his former team and its fans. He was honored with a nearly two-minute long video tribute followed by a seemingly endless standing ovation.

“For me, it’s another game,” Henrik Lundqvist said before the 455th win of his career moved him past Curtis Joseph for fifth all time. “For him, it must be different. Every time you play against players who you’ve played with, I remember playing against [Dan Girardi] for the first time or [Ryan Callahan], it’s weird. They’ve been part of this room and your everyday life for so many years and then …

“It’s part of the business that’s tough sometimes, but it’s part of the business that you do understand that things happen. You always wish them the best when they move on, especially when they’ve had such a big part of our success here.”

But as much as his former teammates were thrilled to see Zuccarello back on the Garden ice, there was a game to play, and not even a touching reunion was going to get in the way of the Rangers’ mission to secure a second-straight win.

However, the Wild capitalized on the few opportunities they were given despite being outplayed. Minnesota posted goals in the second and third periods to erase an early one-goal deficit before a power-play goal from Chris Kreider at the 17:10 mark of the third forced the extra period.

Tony DeAngelo was quick about it, however, and found the back of the net to secure the win just 32 seconds into OT.

“Right now it’s hard,” Zuccarello said of the tribute he received. “When I see it from a little further in a couple of days from now, it was real special. It was emotional for sure, in the beginning, first period and leading up to the game. Maybe more than you want to realize. It was great, like I said, really nice and a good moment for me.”

The Rangers controlled the pace for most of the game and dialed up their physicality, registering 23 hits compared to the Wild’s 14.

After nearly jumping on the board midway through the first period, when Kreider was called for slashing to negate a goal from Ryan Strome, it was Brady Skjei who scored the game’s first goal — and at his former mentor’s expense. Zuccarello found himself without a stick and Skjei wristed one past Wild netminder Alex Stalock for a 1-0 lead at 14:50.

The Rangers almost took a two-goal lead early in the second period when Jacob Trouba sent a shot right on net by a posted Filip Chytil. But the young center couldn’t get his stick on the puck as it deflected wide.

With Minnesota holding a 12-9 shot advantage after the opening frame, the Rangers were in control for the entire second period but couldn’t build on their advantage. The Wild registered just one shot through more than 17 minutes before Zach Parise put the next one in, taking advantage of a long possession and a tired group of Rangers in their defensive zone to knot the game at 1-1.

Lundqvist kept the score tied until a weak transition from the Rangers resulted in a goal by Ryan Donato 10 minutes in to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

Ryan Hartman was called for tripping at 16:52 and the Rangers’ powerplay, which was 0-for-3 to that point, went to work. Artemi Panarin put the puck on net and Kreider banged it home to tie it again with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.

If anything, Lundqvist was simply relieved that he didn’t have to face Zuccarello in a shootout.

“It crossed my mind,” said Lundqvist, who earned his 455th career win and passed Curtis Joseph to take sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list. “I was excited and happy that we ended it right away. Would’ve been a long, long summer if he came out there and scored for sure. I would’ve changed my number probably. But it was cool to see the reaction from the fans and he deserves it, all he did for this organization for so many years.”