Rangers rookie Will Cuylle impresses coach Peter Laviolette in season opener 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – There was a play in the first period of the Rangers’ season-opening win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday where rookie winger Will Cuylle lowered his shoulder and body-checked Sabres defenseman Owen Power behind the Buffalo net, knocking the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 NHL draft to the ice, and popping his helmet off.

“I was just trying to play my game hard and trying to finish hits,’’ Cuylle said Saturday after the Rangers’ optional morning skate in advance of Saturday night's game against the Blue Jackets.

”That's part of my role here and it's kind of how I play always, anyway,’’ he said. “So, just trying to be physical and play my game.’’

Cuylle, a second-round pick in 2020 who made the Rangers after an impressive training camp and preseason, played four games for the Blueshirts last season. That gave him an idea of how much more advanced the NHL is, compared to the AHL, where he scored a team-leading 25 goals last season for Hartford.

“Obviously, the skill level's a lot different,’’ he said. “It's the best league in the world, so there's a lot of guys that are really skilled. Going out to the point, there are certain ‘D’ men, you know you’ve got to be a little more under control, because they're going to be able to make moves on you and stuff. So just be ready for that. And obviously, the speed, and just coming to play every day. It's a bit different schedule … in the AHL, games are more like on the weekend. Here, games are like, whenever. So, you just (have to be) ready to play, always.’’

The 6-3, 210-pound Cuylle certainly looks ready. After averaging just under seven minutes in the four NHL games he played last season, he played 12:34 in the season opener and was credited with a team-leading four hits and one shot on goal. It was enough to impress coach Peter Laviolette.

“I really liked Will's game,’’ Laviolette said. “It was fast. It was ‘North.’ It’s physical. He had a couple chances in front of the net. He's done that consistently throughout camp.’’

Cuylle entered Saturday’s game still looking for his first goal, or point. But he’s not thinking too much about it. Playing on a third line, with center Vincent Trocheck and right wing Blake Wheeler, the 21-year-old Toronto native is pretty confident as long as he does the things he normally does, he’ll score his share of goals.

“If I play the right way, hopefully I'll get rewarded,’’ he said. “I’m just trying to go to the net and keep things simple. I'm not trying to ‘force’ a goal or anything like that. I'm just trying to play my game and that's going to the net. So the goals will come. I’m just building every day, getting better.’’

Laviolette is also confident that the line of Cuylle, Trocheck and Wheeler will produce offense.

“I think that the fourth line (Barclay Goodrow, Nick Bonino and either Tyler Pitlick or Jimmy Vesey) has a bit of an identity, and some defensive zone starts, but I feel like any one of those (other) three lines could be a line that makes a lot of noise,’’ the coach said. “I think that (the third line is) capable of scoring goals. They play hard. They're big bodies. They compete hard.’’

Cuylle, who won a gold medal with Canada at the 2022 World Junior Championships, also realizes that being a rookie on a Rangers team that has plenty of talent, could mean big things in his future.

“It's a really good team we have here, and, the past two years, obviously being in the playoffs, and the goal is always to win a Stanley Cup,’’ he said. “I think we have, hopefully a really good opportunity this year… it's exciting, for sure, especially as a young guy. You're planning on being in meaningful games all the time.’’

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.