{"id":301936,"date":"2025-10-14T06:28:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T06:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/301936\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T06:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T06:28:14","slug":"j-t-miller-finding-rangers-groove-following-preseason-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/301936\/","title":{"rendered":"J.T. Miller finding Rangers groove following preseason injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of signs \u2014 and admissions \u2014 during and after the Rangers opener that J.T. Miller wasn\u2019t entirely back up to speed following a lower-body injury sustained in the preseason. <\/p>\n

His legs were heavy, the center said last Tuesday, and it would take time and reps before he resembled the version of the player the Blueshirts acquired in the middle of last season and named their captain over the summer.<\/p>\n

But slowly, and then more rapidly, Miller has started to showcase that. <\/p>\n

He collected his first goal late in Thursday\u2019s win over the Sabres, and then Sunday<\/a>, skating alongside Will Cuylle and Conor Sheary again, Miller produced three high-danger chances \u2014 and as a line, the trio produced six. <\/p>\n

The Rangers have already been forced to shuffle lines just four games into the season with Vincent Trocheck week to week due to an upper-body injury<\/a>, but the physical Miller starting to contribute and fueling a new-look line has helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a lot of effort,\u201d Cuylle said of Miller after the Rangers\u2019 1-0 loss to the Capitals on Sunday. \u201cWhat he always brings. He\u2019s the leader of our team, so he\u2019s getting in the fight, going head-first in there, so we\u2019re all kinda following his lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.T.J.T. Miller skates in front of the New York Islanders bench in the third period at Madison Square Garden in New York, September 25, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n

Following Trocheck\u2019s injury in Buffalo, Mika Zibanejad shifted to center Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re, while Sheary \u2014 the 33-year-old winger who made the Rangers roster after starting training camp on a PTO<\/a> \u2014 joined Miller and Cuylle. Both lines, even without Trocheck and even with head coach Mike Sullivan\u2019s tweaks, have continued to produce.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sullivan praised Zibanejad for his two-way contributions and his physicality before Sunday\u2019s game, while Miller, who sparked the Rangers with 35 points in 32 games after arriving from the Canucks last season, has quickly collected three in his past three games after the rough opener.<\/p>\n

\"NewJ.T. Miller (8) checks Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Caleb Jones (82) in the first period at Madison Square Garden, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in New York, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

Everything could change again once Trocheck eventually returns or if additional injuries force more shuffling. But for now, even though they haven\u2019t produced a goal yet, Cuylle said Sunday that he felt his line has been \u201cbuilding the last couple games\u201d and \u201cshould\u2019ve been rewarded\u201d \u2014 with a more acclimated version of Miller at the center of everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of predictability with each other,\u201d Cuylle said of skating with Miller and Sheary. \u201cNorth-south hockey, just winning our battles one-on-one and really trying to get pucks to the net.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Rangers haven\u2019t scored in either of their two games at the Garden, and Tuesday, they\u2019ll be tasked with keeping up with the high-octane Oilers \u2014 the two-time defending Western Conference champions who have lost to the Panthers in each of the past two Stanley Cup Finals.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Larry Brooks’ Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Edmonton has averaged three goals per game through its first two matchups this year, though superstar and three-time Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid hasn\u2019t produced one yet. Leon Draisaitl and Andrew Mangiapane both lead the Oilers \u2014 guided by former AHL Hartford coach Kris Knoblauch \u2014 with two goals.<\/p>\n

Entering Monday\u2019s games, the Rangers (10-for-10) were one of six teams to kill 100 percent of their penalties to start the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were plenty of signs \u2014 and admissions \u2014 during and after the Rangers opener that J.T. Miller…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":301937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[80411,1302,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-301936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-j-t-miller","9":"tag-new-york-rangers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115371109460266070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}