BUFFALO -- In honor of Mike Sullivan's first win as New York Rangers coach, a 4-0 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday at Keybank Center, J.T. Miller presented him with a game puck.
The team captain isn't the type to get all warm and fuzzy, so instead he took a playful shot at the Blueshirts' new bench boss.
"He made a joke about how long our video meetings are," Sullivan said, before grinning and adding, "They'll continue to be long until we get on the right page."
Sullivan knows that the lopsided final score doesn't mean the Rangers (1-1) don't have areas to clean up. They started well and staked a 1-0 lead when Alexis Lafrenière cleaned up a juicy Artemi Panarin rebound 11:43 into the first period, but the Sabres tilted the ice against them throughout the second and early portions of the third. Much of that came without veteran center Vincent Trocheck, who exited with 13:10 remaining in the second due to an upper-body injury and never returned.
But Sullivan had something for his 480th career win he hadn't for any of the previous 479: Igor Shesterkin on his side.
"It sure is nice," said Sullivan, who saw Shesterkin in the opposing net 25 times between the regular season and playoffs as the Pittsburgh Penguins coach. "I mean, he's a world-class goalie. He's one of the very best. And when you get timely saves like he gives you - and he makes really hard saves look routine sometimes. We certainly don't take that for granted either. He was terrific tonight. He was terrific the other night also."
Shesterkin was on point throughout Thursday's contest, finishing with 37 saves, of which 26 came in the final two periods.
It was a reminder of how the goalie who was voted as the NHL's best in a recent poll by The Athletic can carry the Rangers on any given night -- and why he's worth every penny of the eight-year, $92 million contract that began this season.
"Year after year, he's that guy for us," said Lafrenière, who tied Miller with a game-high two points. "We're trying to get him a little less work, but he's been unreal again."
Sullivan called the first period "the best period that we played since training camp started," with New York generating 16 shots and looking much more energetic following a flat performance in its 3-0 opening-night loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. But the overall effort "wasn't perfect by any stretch," with a 14-5 shot disadvantage in a disjointed middle 20 minutes and the turnover bug biting on a few egregious occasions.
One came late in the first when defenseman Will Borgen flung a foolish pass from behind the Rangers' net into the middle of the ice, where Buffalo forward Jason Zucker was waiting. He walked the puck right down the slot, but Shesterkin calmly cast the shot away. A few minutes later, Vladislav Gavrikov and Adam Fox got crossed up defending a Sabres rush and left Ryan McLeod wide open on the left wing. Once again, Shesterkin was in position to make the stop.
The heat turned up even more in the second, when a couple early turnovers from Noah Laba and Fox hung Shesterkin out to dry. He made saves on both occasions. And when the Sabres were handed four power plays in a span of 26:26, the 29-year-old netminder didn’t flinch. Nine of his saves came shorthanded, including a few screaming one-timers from Buffalo’s two-time 40-goal scorer Tage Thompson.
"He has one of the best shots in the league," said Shesterkin, who now has 22 career shutouts. "They will try to find him."
Shesterkin was aware and ready each time. He's now allowed only one goal on 66 shots faced through two games, which is good for a .985 save percentage.
Sullivan kept up with the Rangers' (and quite frankly the NHL's) tradition of being vague with injury updates, saying of Trocheck, "He's being evaluated for an upper-body injury right now. I don't have anything else for you."
It's unclear exactly what happened with the 32-year-old or whether he's at risk of missing significant time, but the possibility is concerning.
"It's really tough," Lafrenière said. "He's one of our best players, obviously, and he does everything for us. Hopefully he gets well soon. I don't even know how it happened."
New York is built to rely heavily on its top-six forwards, with four of them notching at least one point Thursday, including an assist from Trocheck on Lafrenière's goal. But losing one for any length of time could expose how thin the depth is behind them.
Sullivan responded by moving Mika Zibanejad from top-line right wing to Trocheck's center spot between Panarin and Lafrenière. That meant elevating Conor Sheary, who just signed a one-year deal for the league minimum on Monday, to play 1RW alongside Will Cuylle and Miller.
That's not ideal, but the Rangers don't have any great alternatives. Jonny Brodzinski and Juuso Pärssinen were healthy scratches for the first two games and can both play center; one is sure to slot in somewhere if Trocheck can't play in his Pittsburgh homecoming Saturday at 7 p.m.. But likelihood is they'll land bottom six while Zibanejad remains middle higher up lineup. Zibanejad posted only one shot goal after collecting team-high seven Tuesday; but won 10 14 faceoffs while registering 79.53 percent expected goals-for rate according Natural Stat Trick.
Prior to game, Sullivan discussed some ways they're trying get 32-year-old Swede more assertive sounded encouraged by start.
"He's trying hang onto pucks more offensive zone," coach said. "That's aspect his game we're trying encourage do little more of, because he's big strong can control play just protecting pucks more hanging onto pucks underneath hashmarks."
On another positive note, Miller looked much closer to his usual self.
He was sluggish on opening night, seemingly still hampered by a lower-body injury suffered near the end of training camp. But other than a nervous moment early in the game when he fell behind the Sabres’ net and winced while skating back to the bench, the captain was effective and more fluid with his movements. Miller assisted on Carson Soucy’s goal that extended the lead to 2-0 with 5:14 to play; then tipped in a shot from Braden Schneider 2:25 later. He also dished out four hits and won 10 of 15 faceoffs across 19:52 time on ice.