The night has finally come to begin the 100th season of New York Rangers hockey. The stars were out, the brand new jerseys were in action, and the hopes were high that this season would be different from last.
After one game, Déjà vu has set in.
Sidney Crosby and company led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a definitive 3-0 victory over the Blueshirts, and it was hard to watch at times. Let's go over some of the biggest things to takeaway from the first game of 82.
Shesterkin looked sharp
Despite the 3-0 loss, only one of those goals is going to go against Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin. He kept the Rangers in contention until he was pulled to let on the extra attacker in the late stages of the third period.
Even the goal he allowed to Penguins forward Justin Brazeau, who also had an empty-netter to help seal it, was not directly on Shesterkin. A lapse in judgment by left winger Alexis Lafreniere, who needed to really step it up on the defensive side of his game, left Brazeau right in the lap of No. 31, with little to no angle to stop the puck.
Really nice effort here from Malkin to not only win the draw but also go get the puck. But Lafrenière gets caught puck watching and loses track of Brazeau, who ends up wide open. pic.twitter.com/nIQOllhCd8
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 8, 2025
Regardless, the trust in Shesterkin is still just as strong after the first 60 minutes of play for the 2025-26 season. The rest of the roster might have lost some brownie points.
Defense did not look sharp
The defensive unit, which had a new look to it this season, showed shades of the same problems from a year ago. Lackadaisical play, miscommunication, and leaving the slot open for Pittsburgh to have uncontested opportunities on Shesterkin were abundant in the first game of the year.
The first pairing of Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov, which was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, was anything but. Moneypuck.com has the duo with a Corsi% of just 32.1%, and they allowed 12 shots on goal whilst they were out on the ice. That is a significant amount, but it looks even worse when you notice that the pair only pressured Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs with two shots on goal.
Not an ideal start for this unit.
Miller is more hurt than he wants to let on
When captain J.T. Miller went down in practice a little over a week ago, it did seem like it was downplayed a bit. After the first game of the season, it is crystal clear that he might be more hurt than what is being led to believe.
Miller's first game as this franchise's sole leader was very quiet for him. He matched his teammates in terms of slowness on the ice and did not contribute much with an expected goals percentage of 26.1%. He had one hit, two shots on goal, and was an even 50% on the faceoff draw. But watching him gingerly skate around painted the picture that he might need some time to heal.