NY Rangers Skating Lines Revealed for Opener With Bruins

The New York Rangers are set to begin the 2026-27 season on the road against the Boston Bruins.

Optimism is on the rise for the Rangers, who look to have a much more talented and deeper lineup compared to what they started with in Game 1 of the 2025-26 season. After a disappointing campaign in which they finished in last place in the Eastern Conference, the pressure is on to turn things around on the ice.

Getting started on the right foot against a rival in their arena would certainly be nice. After making the final cuts to get below the 23-player maximum, fans knew which players would be available for head coach Mike Sullivan to use on opening night.

Now, they know the line combinations that are going to be used. Peter Baugh of The Athletic shared the morning skate lines on X as the team prepares for Game 1 of 84 against the Bruins tonight.

Who is in Rangers starting lineup against the Bruins?

The first line grouping is a familiar one. Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere are looking to continue building off the success they had down the stretch of the 2025-26 campaign and carry it over into 2026-27.

Given the condensed training camp that teams had to deal with this year, including only four preseason games instead of six, it makes sense for Sullivan to go with a top-line trio that already has experience skating together.

The same cannot be said for the second line. J.T. Miller is back at his preferred spot at center and is flanked by two newcomers: Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand. They were acquired with one goal in mind: to upgrade the team’s offense.

Dorofeyev has back-to-back seasons of 35+ goals, while Bjorkstrand has six campaigns in which he has scored 20+ goals. Miller’s playmaking is going to be key to this line finding success.

On the third line, Noah Laba is joined by Will Cuylle and another newcomer, Eeli Tolvanen. Cuylle has had consecutive 20-goal campaigns and will be looking to continue that as a new contract awaits.

Rangers morning skate lines before the opener

Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Bjorkstrand-Miller-Dorofeyev
Cuylle-Laba-Tolvanen
Kartye-Veleno-Rempe

Gavrikov-Fox
Pettersson-Durzi
Šmits-Schneider

Shesterkin
Korpisalo pic.twitter.com/CXl9bGa1Il
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) September 29, 2026

A solid defender down the middle, the Rangers are counting on Laba to take that next step in his development and become more of a force offensively, helping compensate for the loss of Vincent Trocheck.

Tolvanen, who was signed earlier this month, has some two-way upside. He could prove to be one of the bigger steals of free agency after signing a one-year deal with New York despite early projections making him a shoo-in for a multi-year pact.

On the fourth line, another free-agent signing, Joe Veleno, will have Tye Kartye as his left winger and Matt Rempe as his right winger. Rempe was excellent during training camp, looking fully recovered from a thumb injury suffered last season in a fight that derailed his campaign.

The No. 1 defenseman pairing is once again Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov. Behind them, the depth has been completely revamped. Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi are the second pairing, with rookie Alberts Smits and Braden Schneider as the No. 3 duo.

In goal will be Igor Shesterkin, with Joonas Korpisalo as the backup netminder.

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