Rangers' defense significantly better under new coach Mike Sullivan
Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick watches the puck after making a save as Braden Schneider collects the rebound and Noah Laba checks the Vancouver Canucks' Elias Pettersson, back right, during the third period of an NHL game in Vancouver, on Tuesday. Credit: The Canadian Press via AP/Darryl Dyck
EDMONTON – Job No. 1 for any first-year coach of a professional team is get “buy-in’’ from the players. So far, Mike Sullivan seems to have gotten that.
Sullivan, who took over as the Rangers coach this season after 10-plus seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, came in determined to improve the team’s defense, reducing opponents’ goal scoring chances – and more importantly, their high-quality chances. And, through 11 games, the Rangers have done that.
They’re allowing an average of 2.36 goals per game, which is the second-fewest in the league, and down from 3.11 in 2024-25, which was in the middle of the pack (14th highest in the 32-team league). And in the four games they’ve won (they’re 4-5-2), they’ve allowed four total goals, pitching two shutouts along the way.
The second of those came Tuesday in Vancouver when backup goalie Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, including 12 in the third period, and Mika Zibanejad’s first period goal stood up as the eventual game-winner in the 2-0 win over the Canucks. It snapped a three-game losing streak in which they had allowed 14 goals, including 11 in consecutive games against the league’s bottom two teams, San Jose and Calgary.
But against Vancouver, the Rangers tightened up defensively, and generated more scoring chances (35-27) and more high-danger chances (18-10) than their opponents, according to Natural Stat Trick. Afterward, Zibanejad essentially said good defense has become the blueprint for the Rangers this season.
“I think there's been a good process,’’ Zibanejad said. “I mean, last year, what were we (three games over) .500? But -- you know what happened last year? We weren't playing very good hockey. We won games (early in the season). It wasn't well deserved in that sense. And obviously, you need to steal a few games here and there, but I think just the way we've been playing (this season), I think we have to be humble, and, in a way, understand this is (now) the way we play.’’
The problem the Rangers have had for most of the season, is that while they’ve been much better on the defensive end than they’ve been in past years, they haven’t scored enough. Their average 2.18 goals per game is second-lowest in the league.
They have insisted all season long, though, that they’ve been generating chances, and if they keep playing as well as they’ve been playing, the goals will come eventually. And the wins will follow.
“I just think when you… have a semblance of structure and a team game away from the puck… we're a whole lot harder to play against,’’ Sullivan said after Wednesday’s practice at Rogers Place, in advance of Thursday’s game against the Oilers. “We cut not only the quantity of chances down, but the quality. And we think we've got two pretty solid goaltenders that are going to make some saves for us. That, by nature, is going to give us an opportunity to be in every game we play.’’
Sullivan was asked if playing airtight defense is something he’s always believed in, or if it’s an necessity for a team missing one of its key offensive players in Vincent Trocheck and seems offensively challenged.
“It's a little bit of both,’’ he said. “But, you know, it's hard to win in this league consistently if you don't defend. You can't score your way to championships.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
More Rangers
