J.T. Miller described his legs as “heavy” in the season opener Tuesday night after the new Rangers captain sat out the latter part of training camp due to a lower-body injury.
Mike Sullivan referred to it Wednesday as attempting to jump on “a moving train,” even if the Rangers’ locomotive already had partially derailed soon after arriving at the arena above Penn Station in a flat 3-0 home loss to the Penguins.
Returning leading scorer Artemi Panarin also was sidelined for much of camp — and did not appear in any of the team’s preseason games — before returning to the lineup without much impact against Pittsburgh.
“We’re going to have to take it day by day. Obviously, J.T. missed a fair amount of training camp, as did Bread,” Sullivan said after practice in Tarrytown ahead of Thursday’s game in Buffalo. “Those two guys are jumping on a moving train, and when you miss that much time, it’s not easy to jump back into an NHL game at NHL pace.
“Even from a conditioning standpoint, I think those guys will get better with every game they play. I think they’ll get better with timing and reads and all of those things. So we’ll take each day as it comes, and we’ll try to manage it accordingly.”
The duo generally play on different lines among the top six forwards, Panarin on the left side with regular linemates Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière, with Miller centering a unit between Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle.
Panarin managed two shots on goal with a minus-3 rating, and Miller registered none with a minus-2.
“Doing everything I can to get the game legs ready,” the 32-year-old Miller said after practice. “Obviously last week, [not] doing a whole lot, so it’s hard to jump in.
“But unfortunately it’s one of those things that I just [have] to do as much as I can to get my body ready sooner.”
Sullivan wasn’t pleased with the team’s overall performance in his Blueshirts debut — a poor showing against the franchise with which he won two Stanley Cup titles.
“I just think [watching the film] provides more affirmation that what we saw from the bench was actually the case,” Sullivan said. “We certainly weren’t at our best. I think we’re capable of much better.
“Having said that, it’s one game, we’ve got to try to learn from it and move by it and get ready for the next one [Thursday against the Sabres.”
Igor Shesterkin only allowed one goal on 28 shots, coming with 32 seconds remaining in the first period. The Penguins later potted two empty-net goals in the final 2:12.
“I think there’s a lot to take from a learning opportunity, that’s for sure, starting in the defensive zone,” Sullivan said. “I thought we vacated our net front a fair amount. We allowed them to get inside us a little too often. And we gave up some high-quality looks.
“I thought Shesty made a couple of big saves to keep it at one goal. For me, I think that’s the biggest area where I think we’ve got to do a better job, just playing within our structure. And then we’ve got an opportunity to kill plays by physically getting into people and getting the puck stopped. We’ve got to try to do that.”
Top defenseman Adam Fox believes the team lacked “connectivity” as a five-man unit, but that should improve as the Rangers gain more familiarity with Sullivan’s system as opposed to the one employed by his predecessor, Peter Laviolette.
“There’s guys trying to think a little too much [about] where to be,” Fox said. “We’re coming from a little different scheme in terms of coverage. I think sometimes that could get guys a little confused and get a little disconnected.
“This was our first time with the whole group in a game; [we] didn’t get too many reps with everyone [during the preseason]. … The more you do it, the more confident you feel, the less thinking. Once you’re hesitating a little and give guys a little time and space, that’s when you get running around.”
