Rangers open the NHL season against new coach Mike Sullivan's former team

Scouting the opponent for his first game as Rangers' coach should be a little easier for Mike Sullivan as his new club will open the 2025-26 regular season against his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Madison Square Garden, the NHL announced on Monday.

But if scouting the Penguins will make Sullivan’s life a little easier, then scouting the Rangers also will be easier for Pittsburgh’s new coach, Dan Muse, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant on Peter Laviolette’s staff with the Rangers.

Sullivan, who replaced Laviolette this summer, coached the Penguins for 10 seasons and led them to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. Pittsburgh fired Sullivan in April after the Penguins missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Five days later, the Rangers, who had fired Laviolette two days after the season ended, hired Sullivan to be the 38th coach in franchise history.

The NHL announced on Monday that it will open the season with three games on Oct. 7, all broadcast on ESPN. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will raise another banner and kick things off with a home game against Chicago at 5 p.m. They will be followed by the Rangers against Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. and the L.A. Kings will host the Colorado Avalanche at 10:30 p.m.

The NHL will release its full schedule on Wednesday.

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.