Rangers' J.T. Miller and Artemi Panarin expect to be better after sluggish season opener
Artemi Panarin of the Rangers skates in the third period against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
BUFFALO — After he failed to record a shot on goal in the Rangers’ season-opening loss to the Penguins on Tuesday at the Garden, J.T. Miller said missing time during the last week of the preseason had an effect on his game.
“Not great,’’ he said when asked after the game how he was feeling. “Kind of what I expected. Legs were heavy today. Haven’t had a whole lot of reps, but that’ll come with time.’’
He promised to be better in the next game, which was Thursday night at KeyBank Center against Buffalo in the Sabres’ season opener. Coach Mike Sullivan figured Miller would be better, too, with a game under his belt.
“J.T. was out for a number of days, so I imagine J.T. will feel a lot better in this game than he did in the first one,’’ Sullivan said at the Rangers’ morning skate Thursday. “You could say the same for Artemi [Panarin], just by nature of how much time they missed. And they’re trying to jump on a moving train, so to speak. And that train’s moving fast.’’
Miller and Panarin took part in a very well-attended optional skate in the morning and were in the lineup against the Sabres. Panarin said he felt good and also hoped to be better Thursday after what he said was “obviously not a good game’’ Tuesday.
Panarin missed the first week of the preseason with what the Rangers said was a lower-body injury. Then, when he returned to practice, he seemed poised to play in the last two preseason games but was a last-minute scratch for the penultimate game against the Devils. He missed the last one too, last Saturday against the Bruins, and ended up not getting into a preseason game. But he nevertheless played 20 minutes, 47 seconds in the opener — the most of any forward.
Miller played in one preseason game after suffering what the Rangers called a lower-body injury in a practice at the start of last week. On Tuesday, he played 18:18 and had two shot attempts, one hit and two giveaways.
“It’ll come with time,’’ he said of his game. “I missed a lot of time there, important time at camp. But it’s no excuses. I’m playing in the game.’’
Miller’s linemate, Mika Zibanejad, was perhaps the Rangers’ best player Tuesday outside of goalie Igor Shesterkin. Zibanejad was forceful and drove play, created scoring chances and had a game-high seven shots on goal.
“Skating-wise, I feel like, even through training camp, I’ve felt good,’’ Zibanejad said Thursday. “And obviously, I had some chances. I wish at least one went in . . . but [there were] some positives and some things to work on.’’
“I thought Mika played well,’’ Sullivan said. “I thought he was on pucks; his skating, I thought, was evident. He had a couple of Grade A looks.’’
Sullivan also liked that Zibanejad held the puck a lot Tuesday, which he said is something the coaches have been encouraging him to do more of. Zibanejad said he has been making a conscious effort to hold on to the puck more than he has in the past.
“Just being a little bit more patient with it,’’ he said. “I mean, I like the quick plays . . . I’ve always been like that. I like to move the puck — not as quick as I can, just to move it, but like, to try to catch defenders not maybe ready for it or whatnot.
“But yeah, I think there’s times I can hold on to it, and I think I’ve stressed that myself, and that’s something I’ve been trying to work on, to do more of when the time is right, not just to do it so I can say I held on to it. Last game I felt like I was doing that.’’
n Panarin mum on contractWith Kirill Kaprizov, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel all signing contract extensions, Panarin, who is in the final year of his contract, didn’t want to comment on the state of negotiations between him and the Rangers on a new deal.
“Like we said in the beginning, I don’t want to negotiate [in public],’’ he told Newsday.
But he did say he is happy in New York. “Everyone knows how I like New York, how I like the Rangers,’’ he said. “Everyone knows that.’’
n Blue notesThe Rangers used the same lineup as they did in the season opener, meaning F Jonny Brodzinski, F Juuso Parsinnen and D Matthew Robertson were the scratches.
More Rangers



