NEW YORK — Mike Sullivan coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for 10 seasons, leading them to two Stanley Cup championships. On Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, he watched them ruin his debut as the New York Rangers‘ latest head coach.

Sullivan admitted it was a peculiar feeling having Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and others he coached in Pittsburgh suddenly become his opponents.

“I mean, obviously it’s different. It’s different. I knew that was going to be the case,” he said after Pittsburgh’s 3-0 victory on the opening night of the 2025-26 NHL season. “But I’m excited about the group we have here in front of me with the Rangers. I’m looking forward to working with this group.”

The Rangers were shut out by goalie Arturs Silovs (22 saves) and watched forward Justin Brazeau score two goals in the Penguins’ win. They were outshot 15-5 in the third period and couldn’t muster anything consistent offensively in Sullivan’s debut.

“Well, I think my first observation is we got a long way to go to become the team we want to become. Some of it I think we can iron out, but certainly we’ve got a ways to go,” said Sullivan, who will coach Team USA in the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament in Italy. “I’m not going to overreact to it. It’s one game. We’ve got a lot of hockey to play,” he said. “So is it disappointing? Yeah. We’re going to see what we can take from it. We’ve got to move on.”

Sullivan and the Penguins agreed to part ways in April despite his being under contract through the 2026-27 season. Hired in 2015-16, Sullivan was the franchise’s most successful coach with 409 wins, only the 14th coach in NHL history to win 400 games with one team. Pittsburgh won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 with Sullivan.

Days later, after he left the Penguins, Sullivan was hired by the Rangers to replace coach Peter Laviolette, signing a five-year contract that made him the NHL’s highest-paid coach. Sullivan, 57, had previously served as an assistant coach with New York from 2009 to 2013, during which time he coached Rangers GM Chris Drury as a player.

Penguins captain Crosby acknowledged it was a different feeling having Sullivan behind the Rangers’ bench instead of his.

“I just go out there and compete, but it’s always weird that first little bit,” he said.

For Crosby, it wasn’t just seeing Sullivan coaching the opponents. Sullivan brought former Penguins assistants David Quinn and Ty Hennes with him to New York.

While Sullivan took the loss against his former team, new Penguins coach Dan Muse earned a victory against his. Muse was an assistant coach under Laviolette for two seasons in New York and reportedly interviewed for the vacancy before Sullivan was hired. Crosby was happy to get Muse the win.

“Every team will tell you, especially early in the season, it’s not going to be perfect. You’re just trying to be on the same page as much as possible. And I feel like he prepared us well to start the year,” Crosby said.

Pittsburgh had Crosby, Malkin and Letang in its starting lineup, three players who have been on the Penguins team together since 2007.

“We had three guys that have been playing together for 20 years, and I thought it was important that they get to start the game together,” Muse said.

DETROIT — The Seattle Mariners have heard it for years. They are the only team that has never made it to the World Series. After a telltale win in Detroit on Tuesday, the Mariners are one win from getting closer to sending that bit of trivia in obsolescence than they’ve been in 24 years.

All it took was an 8-4 win over the Tigers in Game 3 of the ALDS that gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the series and emblematic of what they have become since the roster was boosted by midseason additions.

“Huge game, a lot of momentum,” Mariners starter Logan Gilbert said. “I’ve been saying it for a while: This is the most complete team I’ve been on and seen.”

It was very much a complete victory for the Mariners, who opened an 8-1 lead after a rain delay of nearly three hours before quashing a ninth-inning Tigers rally.

It wasn’t just the pitching of Gilbert or the end of game door slam from closer Andres Munoz or the ongoing long ball heroics of AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh. It was all of that and more.

“One through nine, guys had good at-bats,” Raleigh said. “And that’s kind of what we’re preaching.”

Gilbert put up seven sterling innings, striking out seven. Raleigh hit his second career postseason home run and first on the heels of his historic 60-homer season. J.P. Crawford enjoyed a perfect night in the nine-hole that included a homer. And trade acquisition Eugenio Suarez launched a home run.

“We’ve been battling all along getting to this point,” Suarez said. “Being one step closer to going to the championship, we’re not done with the job yet. We have to continue playing like this.”

The Mariners got contributions up and down the lineup. They scored on the three long balls but also went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and scored two runs in the third thanks to aggressive baserunning. They quashed Detroit’s late push with a game-ending double play.

The Mariners won by getting contributions across the board, from nearly every player and in every phase of the game.

“That’s the team that we are,” Crawford said. “We create chaos, and we keep the line moving.”

Seattle entered the season drawing plaudits for a standout starting rotation and star players in Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez, but there were concerns about lineup depth and offensive consistency.

The Mariners’ offense improved, but the rotation fell short at times because of injury issues to George Kirby and Gilbert. But in July, the team started to get healthier, and before the trade deadline dealt for Suarez and first baseman Josh Naylor. Suddenly, a roster with clear strengths but just as clear holes started to look very complete.

That revised version of the Mariners was on display in Game 3, moving Seattle one win from reaching the ALCS for the first time since 2001. It’s one victory that will erase a little more of so much bad history.

“We got a tough road ahead of us,” Raleigh said. “Really tough pitching tomorrow. You know it’s going to be a challenge. We got to bring it tomorrow. We can’t take a game off.”

The Mariners will send righty Bryce Miller to the mound in Game 4 on Wednesday. He’ll face Detroit’s Casey Mize and a Tigers team that, in scoring three ninth-inning runs that forced Mariners manager Dan Wilson to summon Munoz from the bullpen, showed that they will not go quietly.

“We’ve earned our way here and we’ve had to play more and more back-against-the-wall-type games,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I know our guys are going to be ready.”

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge hit a tying homer and drove in four runs during a clutch performance for the ages, and the New York Yankees staved off elimination by rallying from five runs down to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 on Tuesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a go-ahead homer in the fifth inning and the Yankees took advantage of two Toronto errors to avoid a three-game sweep. They scored eight unanswered runs and pulled to 2-1 in the best-of-five series, with Game 4 on Wednesday night in the Bronx.

“We need another one tomorrow,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll enjoy this for about 10 minutes and get ready for tomorrow.”

Judge went 3-for-4 with an intentional walk and scored three times, also making critical plays with his glove and legs as fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” After struggling at the plate in previous postseasons, he is 7-for-11 in this series (.636) with five RBIs and three walks.

“Tonight was special, but there’s still more work to be done,” the Yankees’ captain said. “Hopefully we have some more cool moments like this the rest of the postseason.”

With the season on the line, New York starter Carlos Rodón gave up six runs and six hits in 2⅓ innings — but five Yankees relievers bailed him out as they combined for 6⅔ scoreless innings. Tim Hill got four outs for the win, and David Bednar worked 1⅔ perfect innings for his second playoff save as New York improved to 3-0 in elimination games this postseason.

It was the Yankees’ largest comeback in an elimination game, and tied for their second biggest in any postseason game.

Toronto hadn’t lost all season when leading by at least four runs.

“Kind of just didn’t play our game, really,” manager John Schneider said. “Their bullpen did a really good job, and we just gave them extra outs.”

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit an early two-run homer and Ernie Clement had four hits for the AL East champion Blue Jays, who squandered a golden opportunity to put away the Yankees as Toronto tries to reach its first American League Championship Series since 2016.

Consecutive doubles by Trent Grisham and Judge to start the third began New York’s comeback from a 6-1 deficit. Later in the inning, Judge stayed in a rundown between third base and home plate long enough to allow Cody Bellinger to reach third. That became important when Bellinger scored on Giancarlo Stanton’s sacrifice fly against Toronto starter Shane Bieber, who lasted 2⅔ innings.

Stanton also had an RBI single in the first after Blue Jays second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa committed a fielding error against his former team.

With the Yankees trailing 6-3 in the fourth, third baseman Addison Barger dropped Austin Wells’ wind-blown popup for another costly error with one out. Grisham walked, and right-hander Louis Varland was brought in to face Judge, who turned on an 0-2 fastball clocked at 100 mph off the inside corner and somehow kept it fair, launching a three-run drive that clanged high off the left-field foul pole.

“He made a really good pitch look really bad,” Varland said.

Judge tossed his bat aside and gestured to teammates on the bench as the sellout crowd of 47,399 burst into a frenzy.

“It’s an amazing swing,” Boone said. “That’s shades of Edgar Martínez right there, taking that high-and-tight one and keeping it fair down the line. Manny Ramirez used to do that really well, too. But just a great swing on a pretty nasty pitch, obviously.”

The right fielder then made a diving catch with a runner at second in the fifth, drawing more “MVP” chants.

Chisholm gave the Yankees their first lead of the series with a solo homer off Varland in the bottom half. Amed Rosario doubled and scored on Wells’ two-out single to make it 8-6, and Ben Rice added a sacrifice fly in the sixth that scored Judge after he was intentionally walked with one out and nobody on base.

Call it the ultimate sign of respect. Or perhaps, fear.

Guerrero went full-out Superman while diving across home plate to score on Clement’s single in the third, and Anthony Santander’s two-run single capped a four-run inning that made it 6-1.

Rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler will start Wednesday night for New York, coming off a dominant performance in a winner-take-all wild-card series game against rival Boston last Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

Toronto will go with a bullpen game, using Varland as an opener and potentially left-hander Eric Lauer as the bulk reliever.