Penguins pounce in Game 1, spoil Sullivan’s return to Rangers

NEW YORK – Mike Sullivan coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for 10 seasons, leading them to two Stanley Cup championships. Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, he watched them spoil his debut as the new head coach of the New York Rangers.

Sullivan admitted it was a special feeling to see Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and others he coached in Pittsburgh suddenly become his opponents.

“I mean, obviously, it’s different. It’s different. I knew it would be,” he said after Pittsburgh’s 3-0 victory on opening night of the 2025-26 NHL season. “But I’m excited about the group we have in front of me with the Rangers. I look forward to working with this group.”

The Rangers were shut out by goaltender Arturs Silovs (22 saves) and saw forward Justin Brazeau score two goals in the Penguins victory. They were outshot 15-5 in the third period and couldn’t achieve anything consistent offensively in Sullivan’s debut.

“Well, I think my first observation is we have a long way to go to become the team that we want to become. I think we can iron out some of it, but we definitely have a way to go,” said Sullivan, who will coach Team USA in the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament in Italy. “I’m not going to overreact. It’s just one game. We’ve got a lot of hockey to play,” he said. “So, is it disappointing? Yeah. We’ll see what we can get out of this. We need to move on.”

Sullivan and the Penguins agreed to part ways in April even though he was under contract through the 2026-27 season. Hired in 2015-16, Sullivan was the franchise’s most successful coach with 409 wins, only the 14th coach in NHL history to win 400 games with a single team. Pittsburgh won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 with Sullivan.

Days later, after leaving the Penguins, Sullivan was hired by the Rangers to replace coach Peter Laviolette, signing a five-year contract that made him the highest-paid coach in the NHL. The 57-year-old previously served as an assistant coach in New York from 2009 to 2013, during which time he coached Rangers general manager Chris Drury as a player.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby admitted it was a different feeling having Sullivan behind the Rangers bench than on his own.

“I just go out there and compete, but it’s always weird from the start,” he said.

For Crosby, it wasn’t just about watching Sullivan coach opponents. He brought former Penguins assistants David Quinn and Ty Hennes with him to New York.

While Sullivan suffered a loss against his former team, new Penguins coach Dan Muse earned a victory against his own. Muse served as an assistant coach under Laviolette for two seasons in New York and reportedly interviewed for their vacant position before Sullivan was hired. Crosby was happy to get him the victory.

“Every team will tell you, especially early in the season, it’s not going to be perfect. You just try to be on the same page as much as possible. And I feel like he’s prepared us well to start the year,” the Penguins captain said.

Pittsburgh had Crosby, Malkin and Letang in their starting lineup, three players who have played together on the Penguins since 2007.

“We had three guys who had been playing together for 20 years and I thought it was important that they started the game together,” Muse said.