Rangers’ Defensive Woes Headline Sluggish Opening-Night Loss To Bruins

As the New York Rangers headed into their opening-night matchup against the Boston Bruins, many questions remained unanswered.

The Rangers’ 3-0 loss to the Bruins answered some of those questions, as we learned more about a new-look Blueshirts team still trying to overcome last season's demons.

The Rangers came into the game with a lot of new faces, including Pavel Dorofeyev, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen, Joe Veleno, Sean Durzi and Macrus Pettersson, so it was unknown how all of those guys would fit in and how much different the Rangers would look as a team. 

The biggest mystery going into the night was how 2026 fifth overall pick Alberts Šmits would fare in his NHL debut. 

It was certainly a mixed bag for Šmits, who struggled early specifically in his own zone, but seemed to settle into the game a bit more as the night progressed. 

The 18-year-old defenseman ended the night playing 16:54 minutes, while recording one block, two hits, and two giveaways. 

“I just gotta make better decisions at some points,” Šmits said. “I made a couple plays that weren't there, and I would like to take those back. But I think the best thing I can do right now is just think about it, learn from it, and move on and try to not make the same mistakes in the future.”

Despite the score remaining 0-0 through two and a half periods of play, the Rangers’ defensive woes were reminiscent of last season and simply too hard to ignore. 

The 20 giveaways and constant defensive breakdowns led to a number of odd-man rushes for the Bruins throughout the game. 

Igor Shesterkin’s 20-save performance kept New York in the game in spite of their defensive play, but the amount of odd-man rushes and chances off turnovers the Rangers gave up was alarming.

“We turned pucks over in the wrong areas of the rink,” Mike Sullivan “I thought we were trying to play a little bit too much East-West, instead of simplifying the game and playing more straight ahead. I thought we were standing on pucks instead of moving our feet when we got them. When you stand on pucks, the world closes in on you out there. 

“We try to encourage the guys to move our feet. We turn some pucks over and we give them some grade-A looks off those turnovers, and then we gave up too many odd-man rushes. I think we gave up three 2-on-1's in the second period.”

The Rangers have put an emphasis on adding a puck-moving dynamic to their blueline core, indicative of their pursuit to acquire Durzi and Pettersson. 

The team also wants the defensemen to contribute more offensively and made that a priority on Tuesday night, which led to an increase of odd-man rushes and scoring chances the other way. 

“If we want our D to be active off the offensive blue line, off the rush, things of that nature, then as a forward, we have to build a level of trust that we're going to replace that defenseman and we're going to stay out and stay above the attack until the defenseman returns,” Sullivan said.

“We would replace, but then we wouldn't stay out. We would leak back in and dive back into the play before the defenseman returned. It happened four times in the second period, and that's how we gave up the types of odd-man rushes we gave up. I think that's a discipline that we've got to develop.”

With the game still scoreless late in the third period, the Rangers proceeded to give up three goals in a 1:15 minute span, crushing their hopes of stealing an opening-night win in Boston. 

“We’ve got to try to lock it down for a full 60 minutes,” Will Cuylle said. “Can’t play 55 and give up three in the last four minutes.”

Just before traveling to Boston, J.T. Miller proclaimed that there was a “commitment to defend” from all players, but based on the way the Rangers played Tuesday night, that defensively structured team is merely an illusion of who they want to eventually become, rather than who they actually are right now.

Given the two-week shortened training camp and the new faces around the team, the sluggish start is somewhat expected, as there’s still a ton of room for the Rangers to grow and continue to build chemistry.

The Rangers will be back in action on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.