BOSTON — Rangers hockey finally returned Saturday night after an eight-month layoff, and the team looked rusty in a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.
"Oh yeah, we definitely have a ways to go," said Brad Richards, who scored the only goal in the Rangers' first game since May 25, when they were eliminated by the Devils in the Eastern Conference finals. "We've got to learn some things quickly."
The Rangers were physically dominated early, took several bad penalties, were outshot by 34-21, and, trailing by 2-1 in the third period, failed to capitalize on a five-on-three power play.
"There was a lot of rust in the first period," said the team's prized off-season acquisition, Rick Nash, who looked strong in his Rangers debut. "There was a lot of hype in the last few days to play this game, and we didn't play the way we wanted to." But, he added about the Rangers' home opener against Pittsburgh on Sunday, "The good thing is we play again tomorrow night."
Of course every team endured months of inactivity and then a short training camp after the four-month-long lockout ended with the signing of a collective bargaining agreement Jan. 12. Not only was Coach John Tortorella not using the lockout as an excuse for the Rangers' uneven performance, he said he was sick of talking about it altogether.
"Let's just move by that," Tortorella said when asked if rust was a factor. "I'm not going to keep talking about the short season. We've started the season, and we did not play well enough to win. Boston did."
However, unlike most N.H.L. teams, the Rangers did not try to simulate a game by playing against their American Hockey League affiliate or an intrasquad scrimmage during the six-day training-camp period that ended Friday. They did not even practice in public.
"I wanted to work with our team," Tortorella said before the game when asked why he chose not to stage a scrimmage.
Whether the lack of a scrimmage hindered the Rangers, they played much of the game in a fog against the Bruins, who still have most of their players from their Stanley Cup run in 2011.
Defenseman Marc Staal finished minus 3. Wing Chris Krieder, who set an N.H.L. rookie record by scoring five goals for the Rangers during the playoffs, managed no shots in his regular-season debut while playing in his hometown.
Besides Nash, three other players made their Rangers debuts — Jeff Halpern, Taylor Pyatt and Brandon Segal — and had little effect.
But Nash, the 30-goal player acquired from Columbus, made a solid impression. He pulled off some nice moves, including a couple in which he skated backward to shield the puck from a defenseman, then turned 180 degrees to shoot.
"You can see how he uses his body with the puck," Tortorella said. "He wasn't great tonight, either, but you can certainly see what type of player he's going to be for us."
Nash was limited to two shots, and an assist on the Rangers' lone goal. Zdeno Chara, the Bruins' 6-foot-9 All-Star defenseman, shut him down. And on the five-on-three, Tortorella said, "We didn't move the puck well, and I don't think Nash touched it."
Milan Lucic opened the scoring 14 minutes 14 seconds into the game, knocking the rebound of a shot from David Krejci past Henrik Lundqvist. Daniel Paille made the score, 2-0, for Boston 8:20 into the second period.
The Rangers finally struck at 12:50, when Richards nailed the top corner of the net behind Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.
At 7:07 of the third period, Lundqvist made a diving glove save to rob Krejci and keep the score at 2-1.
"It was a fun save, but I made it in desperation," said Lundqvist, who won the Vezina Trophy last season.
At 8:13, Johnny Boychuk made the score 3-1.
"We'll get better," the Rangers' captain, Ryan Callahan, said. "It's the start of a journey."
There are only 47 games left in that journey, and the Rangers are 0-1.
SLAP SHOTS
Before Saturday's game, Jeremy Jacobs, the Bruins' owner and chairman of the N.H.L. Board of Governors, revived the bitterness of the lockout when he blamed the players union for the work stoppage, telling reporters the union gave "no expression of desire to make a deal." Of Donald Fehr, the union's executive director, Jacobs said, "I'm not going to give him credit for anything."
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