BOSTON — While other NHL players were shaking off the rust following a truncated preseason, Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin had no time to do so.
The Blueshirts abandoned their defensive structure numerous times through the first two periods of their 3-0 loss to the Bruins on Tuesday night, leaving their star Russian netminder to fend for himself on multiple odd-man rush attempts.
Shesterkin, who finished with 20 saves on 22 shots, stood tall for every one of them, before Fraser Minten put the Bruins ahead off a snipe from the high slot late in the third period.
“We turned pucks over in the wrong areas of the rink,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss. “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.
“As I said to the guys after the game, 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. We would replace, but then we wouldn’t stay out, and then we would leak back in and dive back into the play before the defenseman returned. It happened four times in the second period.
“That’s how we gave up the types of odd-man rushes that we gave up. I think that’s a discipline that we’ve got to develop, and we’ve got to be better about that aspect of our game.”
Sullivan coached his 1,000th NHL game against the team he started his coaching career with and in the state he grew up in.
“I don’t know, I think it just suggests that I’m probably getting older,” the second-year Rangers coach said before the game. “But, you know, it’s a privilege to coach in this league. I’m grateful for the opportunities that I’ve been given along the way.”
Sullivan’s first coaching job was with the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 2002-03, during which he was only one year removed from his playing career. Later in that campaign, however, Sullivan was brought up to the Bruins to serve as an assistant.
It turned out to all be an audition for the head coaching position in Boston. Sullivan was ultimately named the 25th head coach in Bruins history.
Vincent Iorio was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, but the 23-year-old defenseman participated in the Rangers morning skate. He was waived in the afternoon. … Scott Morrow, Matthew Robertson and Jaroslav Chmelar served as healthy scratches in Game 1. … The Rangers enter the season with the second-youngest roster in the NHL with an average age of 26.63.
