Rangers' Season Opener Began In Celebration And Ended In Despair

The night started off in celebration with cheers from the crowd as the New York Rangers kicked off their centennial season, but it ended with boos after the Blueshirts lost 3-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener.

There were a lot of expectations and unknowns entering Tuesday night regarding the Rangers. Mike Sullivan was set to make his coaching debut, creating a sense of optimism and excitement. 

After a disastrous 2024-25 campaign where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, the hope was that Sullivan could help rejuvenate the franchise. 

At least after one game, the Rangers’ problems of old are still very much prevalent. 

The Rangers started off the game with hesitation, as Sullivan described it. Multiple defensive breakdowns headlined the first period, and after 20 minutes of play, New York trailed 1-0. 

Despite outshooting the Penguins 13-7 in the second period, they still failed to generate an abundance of high-quality chances and maintain consistent zone time. 

The third period saw the Blueshirts record just five shots, capping off a lackluster offensive performance. 

From any way you slice it, the Rangers were severely outplayed by a team that many project to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. 

Sullivan feels the Rangers have a lot of work to do before they reach their ultimate potential. 

“I think my first observation is we got a long way to go to become the team we want to become,” Sullivan said. “I thought we had moments in the game where we were playing the game that we envision that we can play more consistently, but it's not nearly consistent enough…Certainly, we got ways to go.”

After defeats last season, players were at a loss for words and simply couldn’t explain what was going wrong.

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However, the response after Tuesday night’s loss was far more positive from both the players and Sullivan.

“They outplayed us today, but it’s not a panicking situation,” Miller said of the loss. “It’s one game. There are a lot of expectations for our group. We are going to be better next game.”

Where do the Rangers go from here?

Last year, they let their dreadful slump spiral out of control until it was too late to steer the ship back on track. 

Their performance against the Penguins to open up the 2025-26 campaign was underwhelming and disappointing to say the least, but Sullivan has faith in this team’s resilience.  

“What I will tell you is, I think we've got a resilient group,” Sullivan said. “I think we are going to go through times in the season where we are not going to feel good about what went on. We have higher expectations, we know that. We have to be better, we know that. We’re going to go back to work tomorrow and put our best foot forward. 

Now, we’ll just have to see if the Rangers have learned their lesson from last season.