The Rangers are only one game into the season, but their old coaching crossroads already looks a lot different than it did a few months ago.
On Wednesday night in Philadelphia, the Penguins gave an early jolt to the Metropolitan Division conversation with a 7-0 demolition of the Flyers, and Dan Muse’s group looked every bit like a team that belongs in the mix. For the Rangers, now led by Mike Sullivan, it was a reminder that the decision tree around these two coaches is already being judged in real time.
Pittsburgh didn’t just win. It rolled.
The Penguins controlled the game from start to finish and, as Rick Tocchet admitted afterward, outclassed Philadelphia in every part of it. Fourteen of Pittsburgh’s 18 skaters picked up at least one point, a wild spread of offense that included a goal and two assists from Filip Hallander.
Hallander had appeared in only 16 games across his previous three seasons with the Penguins, and after one night he’s already one point away from matching his 2025-26 season total.
Nick Robertson made an immediate impact in his first game with Pittsburgh, scoring a team-high two goals. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were part of the blowout, but neither led the club in scoring, finishing with one point apiece. Arturs Silovs handled the other end cleanly, stopping all 19 shots he faced.
The Penguins also kept the game tidy with the puck, finishing with just 11 giveaways to Philadelphia’s 21.
That kind of start matters because the Penguins’ rise last season was already one of the NHL’s biggest surprises. They were not supposed to finish second in the Metropolitan Division after entering the year as a lottery-team type of club, and their coaching hire drew plenty of attention too.
Muse, who had been on Peter Laviolette’s staff in New York, took some heat during that search. Now he’s the coach of a Penguins team that looks like it meant what it showed last season.
The Rangers, meanwhile, are trying to start fresh under Sullivan after parting ways with the Penguins at the end of the 2024-25 season. New York had made no secret for years that Sullivan was a target if he ever became available, and general manager Chris Drury’s USA Hockey connection with him only added to that fit. The hope in New York is that Sullivan can steady the ship and get the team back into Stanley Cup contention.
But his first season behind the Rangers bench didn’t deliver that kind of turnaround. New York slid to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 34-39-9 record, missed the playoffs, and moved into a retool that ended with the fifth overall pick.
Muse, by contrast, was able to turn a fresh chance into a strong debut year as a head coach in the NHL. Pittsburgh finished second in the Metropolitan Division at 41-25-16 for 98 points in 82 games. That’s the backdrop now: one coach trying to prove the Rangers made the right move, and another opening the season by making sure everybody noticed.
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