Wild's Brock Faber, Toronto's Matthew Knies reunite on NHL ice

TORONTO — A day after the Gophers kicked off their season, Brock Faber and Matthew Knies were on the ice together.

But the two weren't skating as college teammates.

They faced off as opponents in the NHL.

"It's pretty cool that I get to play against him now and on such a stage," Knies said.

The Wild's first road game of the season on Saturday at Toronto served as a reunion for the former Gophers, who competed against each other for the first time as pros since leaving Minnesota earlier this year.

Faber exited after three seasons and a trip to the national championship where the Gophers lost in overtime to Quinnipiac in April. That also marked the end of Knies' two-season tenure; he signed a three-year contract with the Maple Leafs the same day Faber joined the Wild on his entry-level deal.

"I really enjoyed it," Knies said of his time in Minnesota. "I thought it was a perfect place for me to develop as a player and a person. I take a lot of pride in being a Gopher."

After a seamless transition to the Wild's lineup that included skating in all six playoff games vs. Dallas, Faber continued to make an impact by scoring his first NHL goal in the team's season-opening victory against Florida on Thursday.

"Pretty cool to see," said Knies, who had three assists to help the Maple Leafs win their first playoff series in 19 years last season before chipping in a goal in Round 2.

These two, however, aren't the only Gophers taking the NHL by storm.

Their former teammate Logan Cooley, now with Arizona, picked up two assists in his debut on Friday.

"We're all so close," Faber said. "That's a brotherhood that'll last forever. To see Cools, no surprise. Obviously, he's a tremendous hockey player. Same with Kniesy the way he plays. It's fun. It's really fun."

That's what the veteran forward told President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin at the end of last season, and that's how the 36-year-old ended up singing a three-year, $4.05 million contract with the Leafs.

"Obviously with the cap situation in Minny, there were some issues, and Toronto's obviously a very good team that was offering me a three-year contract and at my age it's hard to turn down," said Reaves, who had five goals and 10 assists in 61 games with the Wild after coming over last November in a trade from the Rangers. "Yeah, it was a tough decision, for sure.

"I really enjoyed Minny. I loved the guys there, everything about the organization, but this was just an opportunity I couldn't turn down."

But Reaves' feelings about his former teammates didn't dissuade him from playing his trademark gritty style in Toronto's 7-4 romp of the Wild.

On the same shift in the first period, Reaves hit Marco Rossi and then leveled Frederick Gaudreau before fighting Marcus Foligno.

"That's just Reave-O, and we respect him and loved when he was on the team," said Foligno, who actually fought Reaves last season before he joined the Wild. "He stands up for his teammates, and I'm going to do it with my teammates, too. He likes to play the physical game. You've got to answer that, and it picked up our bench out there."

Marcus Johansson played on Saturday after getting clipped with an elbow and leaving the season opener early.

Captain Jared Spurgeon, who's week-to-week with an upper-body injury suffered in the preseason, has not resumed skating and didn't make the trip.