Rangers' Mike Sullivan, former Penguins coach, says his complete focus has been on his new team

Mike Sullivan stuck to his story.

When asked at Tuesday’s morning skate before the Rangers’ regular-season opener at the Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins about going up against his old team, Sullivan insisted he hasn’t had time to think about the prospect of coaching his first official game behind the Blueshirts’ bench against the team he coached to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and  '17.

“No, not really,’’ Sullivan said. “My focus has been on the New York Rangers. You know, when I went home last night and I was thinking about today, and how we can put the best version of the New York Rangers on the ice, that's where my focus was — on our players, and the message that we're going to bring to our guys today in order to try to set them up for success.’’

It was the same answer he’d given when asked the question Monday, and the same as when he’d been asked the question last week.

To be fair, Sullivan — who was hired by the Rangers on May 2, five days after the Penguins let him go after more than 10 years as their head coach — had a lot to worry about with the Rangers in his first game as Blueshirts coach. For starters, his two most important offensive players, Artemi Panarin and captain J.T. Miller, were limited by injury to one preseason game between them. Both were declared healthy and were in the lineup Tuesday, but rust and timing figured to be an issue, at least early on.

“I'm sure there'll be a little bit of a work in progress,’’ Sullivan said. “But these guys are great pros. They're veteran guys. They've played a lot of games in this league. If anybody can figure it out, it's them.’’

Assuming both players are healthy, there are other concerns for Sullivan as well, as he tries to figure out how to get the Rangers back into the playoffs after they missed the postseason last season. The top two lines and the top defensive pair of Vladislav Gavrikov and Adam Fox seem strong, but there are questions about their depth, and the quality of the bottom half of the lineup.

On Tuesday, rookie Noah Laba centered a third line between veteran wingers Taylor Raddysh and Conor Sheary, who earned a one-year contract after attending training camp on a tryout. How well that trio will match up with opposing teams’ third lines, and how much they can contribute offensively over the season, is an unknown.

As for Panarin and Miller, the latter played in the third preseason game, then missed the final three games with a lower-body injury suffered in practice last Monday. He returned to practice Friday in a non-contact jersey before practicing fully Monday. Panarin, who missed a week of camp with a lower-body injury, then missed the final two preseason games with an upper body-injury, also practiced Monday fully, and he declared himself “ready to go’’ on Tuesday.

“I was planning on playing a couple [preseason] games at least, but yeah, I didn’t play at all,’’ he said. “But it is what it is. I’ve got to be ready for the first game.’’

 Sheary, who played for Sullivan his first three seasons in Pittsburgh, was asked what he thought his coach might be feeling going into Tuesday.

“I was there in the [Pittsburgh] organization for four years,’’ Sheary told Newsday. “I remember going back there the first time, after spending so much time there, and the emotions that I had. I was angry that they traded me, because I wanted to be there, and I wanted to kind of prove myself a little bit to them that, you know, I felt like I could help their team.

“So I'm sure [Sullivan] has those emotions,’’ he said. “I don't want to speak for him, but there's definitely going to be emotion involved where you're so connected to a place for so long that playing against them definitely brings some heightened meaning to it.’’

Notes & quotes: The Rangers wore their special Centennial jerseys, commemorating the franchise’s 100th year . . . Penguins rookie head coach Dan Muse was a Rangers assistant the past two seasons under Peter Laviolette . . .  Igor Shesterkin will get the start in goal for the Rangers. He allowed five goals on 48 shots (.896) in three appearances in the preseason . . . Rookie Noah Laba, who made the team after leading the Rangers in scoring in the preseason, will make his NHL debut . . .  Forwards Juuso Parssinen, Jonny Brodzinski and D Matthew Robertson were the Rangers’ scratches.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.