Sully says: Season opener 2024.25

The Penguins hoped to carry some of the momentum from their strong finish into last season. Instead, Pittsburgh stumbled out of the gate with a 6-0 loss to the New York Rangers in their 2024-25 opener on Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

They traveled to Detroit immediately after the game as Pittsburgh plays the Red Wings on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena.

“We wait, long offseason and long break, and we think we are ready to play, but we have to play better,” Evgeni Malkin said. “I mean, this was a real game, not an exhibition. It's a tough defeat and I hope we play better tomorrow. Long season. Stay together, it's the only way. We played against a good team, Rangers. But stay together, get ready tomorrow and go to Detroit to change everything.”

While Alex Nedeljkovic struggled week-to-week with a lower-body injury, Tristan Jarry started between the posts for Pittsburgh. He bounced back from a difficult end to the first period in which the Rangers scored two goals in the final two-plus minutes, stopping 35 of 41 shots.

“I think if I save on that second game, I think it will at least help the guys stick around,” Jarry said. “It's disappointing, we had a long break from the season. It wasn't really the offseason we wanted, we were so close to making it last year and it's a new year. I think being able to start off on the right foot would have really helped us. But we have to work a little harder, I have to work a little harder myself and I think we will do better.”

Rutger McGroarty, 20, made his National Hockey League debut and took part in the ceremonial “rookie round” to lead the Penguins in warm-ups. The Nebraska native was the ninth-youngest player in the Sidney Crosby era to make his debut.

In the end it was 0:3 for the Penguins on the power play, where they conceded one shorthanded goal, but converted both penalties. Head coach Mike Sullivan shared his thoughts before heading to the airport.

In the way you played, is the result a game that makes you think about change now, or is it too early for that? “I think it's probably premature. Obviously we didn't have the start to the season we would have liked. It's difficult to evaluate. I thought at the start of the game we played pretty well for the first 13 minutes or so. I feel like there was a two or three minute period in the first half where we conceded a couple of goals. From then on we just couldn't seem to get a handle on it. I think it’s probably premature to overreact at this point, but we’re definitely disappointed with the result tonight.”

Jarry is hardly the reason you lost tonight if you don't score, but he allowed two goals on his first three shots. He is under the microscope this season. Even if it's just one night, are you worried about how this might affect his confidence at all? “I do not believe that. I thought he responded really well after the first time. I thought he made some big saves in the second and third periods. The reality is that this is the world we all live in, you know? “So we have to find a way to focus on the game and focus on the details of your particular game and I am confident that Jars will do that.”

How do you rate the performance of the power play? “I think it was an extension of our overall game. Like I said, I think the power play did a lot of good things throughout training camp. I don't think it was representative of how they've performed so far tonight. You know, some of the power plays towards the end of the game, to me, they were just symptomatic of our overall game at that point, I think it just affected us.

What do you think of McGroarty's game tonight? “I thought Rutger played well. He made some wall games. You can see his feel for hockey; he sees it pretty well. I think he can handle the puck confidently; he doesn't just throw it away. I thought he handled the pace of the game really well. We are excited about Rutgers’ play and believe he will only get better.”

What's this about being symptomatic of some of the common problems tonight? Have you found these things to be a problem, especially in your setup to achieve the structure you want to achieve this year? Or was it more about making decisions with the puck once the offensive flow started? “I think it was a little bit of both, but we just didn't execute on it. We had trouble making the transitions from band to band. The passes from tape to tape seemed to explode on our stick. We had a few looks with some chances at that bumper position where guys had a lot of time and space, and we didn't execute on them. I think the answer to your question was that it's probably a little bit of everything. We need to do a better job of making some of our decisions. We need to improve our performance in terms of passing, receiving, moving the puck and things like that. When they leave, these things seem to fall into place. And I just think it was symptomatic of our game.”

Do you think the team reacted poorly to not being able to finish with quality chances and could you have benefited from that? “Well, I think hockey is a dynamic game and you have to try to maximize the chances when you have them. If you don't, you're on your heels. You have to find a way to simplify the game to get back into the swing of things and not get injured in those circumstances. It's a very dynamic game and there are such critical moments in games that can potentially change the outcome. So I thought from a process standpoint, for most of the first phase, we really liked what we saw. We conceded a few goals and then whatever it was – in that two, three minute period – we just didn't recover from it. Maybe that's the lesson: we have to find some resilience and try to get a grip on it and climb back into it. But from there it seemed to unravel.”

You took on Sid and Geno in a five-on-five match tonight. Especially with a guy like Bryan Rust not in the lineup right now, is that something you're going to fall back on a little bit if you need an offensive spark out there? “Well, that was the thought process. Geno is a pretty dynamic offensive player. Given the circumstances of Rusty not being in the lineup, we thought we could bring this pair together when the time comes and see if we can ignite a spark. I thought at the start of the game they had a few good shifts. They almost scored. I think as the game went on it became more symptomatic of our overall team play, but that was part of the logic of why we did it. We'll see how it goes, but it's certainly something we've done in the past. Maybe we’ll try again, it will all depend on what the group looks like.”