PITTSBURGH – The New York Rangers looked like a Stanley Cup contender on Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena.

Those days are long gone for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

One game doesn’t make a season, but on the face of it, what happened in the Penguins’ home opener was a complete disaster, as the Rangers rolled to a 6-0 win.

Tristan Jarry, in the spotlight after not starting the final three weeks of last season, allowed Sam Carrick a goal on the first shot he took, was beaten twice on Rangers’ first three shots and stayed in competition for the duration.

He was hardly the only one to blame.

The Penguins failed to beat Igor Shesterkin, nor did they look competent. Although the Penguins enter this season with lower expectations than at any point in Sidney Crosby’s career, this was a stunningly inept performance.

What perhaps makes matters worse is that 24 hours later the Penguins have to play a Detroit team that has given them fits in recent seasons.

Is it best for the Penguins to learn from this game or simply erase it from their memory?

“You definitely want to forget about it,” Kris Letang said. “Early on I thought the energy was good. Overall, the first season was good. But it went downhill from there.”

Have ever done it. The Penguins had a 41-29 lead and would have lost by an even larger margin had the Rangers not been offside when they scored in the first period.

One of the veteran Penguins was concerned about the team’s lack of effort and overall performance.

“I think we should learn better from this,” said Lars Eller. “We better learn a lot. I’m having a hard time even analyzing what happened tonight. First of all, we have to be much better without the puck. We need to look at why we have given up so many rushes against strange men. If you do that, you can’t win games in this league. We kept getting caught.”

The Penguins led the game for most of the first period, but Shesterkin clearly outplayed Jarry during that period.

The Penguins essentially shut it down in the final 40 minutes. They didn’t show much energy, didn’t come particularly close to scoring, and let Jarry fall by the wayside.

“We started with a decent performance,” said Eller. “But it disappeared as the game progressed.”

Schedule is not the Penguins’ friend. After playing in the Red Wings’ home opener, they must play in the Maple Leafs’ home opener in Toronto. In less than two weeks they must begin the annual journey through Western Canada, one of the most difficult stages in the NHL.

“I’m glad we’re playing tomorrow,” said Eller. “I want to see how we react.”

Lars Eller was not impressed with the Penguins’ performance on Wednesday night. (Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ten observations

• I’m hardly here to defend anything I saw before the Penguins. They were terrible from top to bottom. They didn’t show much fight. Against the Rangers they looked like a second-rate team.

Still – and I know everyone wants to see blood after this game – I think it’s important to remember that it was one game, and against a great team. Strange things happen at the start of the season. We see it all the time.

Are the penguins really that bad? Perhaps. Will they be smoked in Detroit on Thursday? Oh, there’s a lot at play. But this was a game, too, and while the Penguins were shockingly bad, I think it’s fair to wait a few weeks before making any bold announcements about them.

• One thing I found very interesting about this game was the audience reaction.

Penguins fans rarely boo. It’s always a very polite and supportive audience. Unlike two years ago when the memorable chants of “Fire (Ron) Hextall” rang out during a game against the Edmonton Oilers, there is rarely any hate from fans at PPG Paints Arena.

That wasn’t the case on Thursday. The Penguins, trailing 3-0, were sent to the locker room with boos at the end of the first period. Jarry received a series of Bronx cheers as he battled the Manhattan team.

Simply put, it was an angry crowd. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been. If I had paid money to watch this game, I would have been nervous too. I just want to say it was an atmosphere rarely experienced at PPG Paints Arena, let alone on the home opener.

• Like his teammates, I won’t judge Jarry based on one game. He wasn’t good, but it’s not like his teammates did anything to help. After all, they didn’t score a goal.

Still, Jarry’s season couldn’t have started worse. He is under more scrutiny than ever. Last season didn’t go well for him, especially on the track. In his first appearance since then, he allowed six goals.

The funny thing is that Jarry made a series of sensational saves in the second and third periods where the Rangers shifted gears and left the Penguins in the lurch. I think that can be something encouraging.

Still, it’s fair to wonder about Jarry’s confidence, and this game didn’t help at all.

• The number of mental errors we saw from the Penguins in this game was concerning. One stands out.

After the Penguins were down 2-0 in the first half, the top team had been on the ice for some time. The puck was eventually cleared, giving the Penguins a chance for a line change. For some reason, Drew O’Connor hit the puck in mid-air while behind the red line for the game-winning touchdown.

A few moments later, Chris Kreider effectively ended the game, making the final score 3-0 while the Penguins group was still exhausted on the ice.

• Eller was right when he said the Penguins gave up too many odd-man rushes. This is of course nothing new. Although Eller is right, it was he who sparked the Rangers’ rush in the first period. He was stripped by Artemi Panarin, which led directly to Alexis Lafrenière’s goal.

When even reliable players like Eller make mistakes like this, it’s fair to wonder where the team’s collective spirit was.

Rutger McGroarty played better than some of his veteran teammates in his NHL debut. (Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)

• Rutger McGroarty played in his first NHL game. His performance was perfectly fine, if not particularly remarkable. That means he was better than most of his teammates.

McGroarty will be a very good NHL player and I believe he will improve significantly as the season progresses.

• The Penguins will get absolutely nowhere without strong performances from Erik Karlsson and Letang. They were both pretty bad in this game.

Karlsson missed training camp due to injury and Letang is adjusting to life with a new defensive partner. It’s fine to give them passes for this game, but you’d still like to see more of both. If they play like that, there will be big problems.

• The Rangers are a type of ice hockey team. I don’t see any major weaknesses in this squad. Shesterkin has been in top form and the Rangers’ puck handling skills are truly staggering.

There are probably six or seven teams that I would consider clear Stanley Cup contenders. The Rangers are on this list. Scary team.

• John Henry and Tom Werner of Fenway Sports Group were at the game and Werner answered questions from local media during the first intermission.

Some highlights: Werner said the Penguins are “in a transition period,” but added, “We’re so confident in (Kyle Dubas’s) vision.” He said FSG views Mike Sullivan as “one of the two or three best Ice hockey coach.” He called Crosby’s offseason signing “really important… and we need to build on that.” He also described FSG as “impatient.”

“Our focus is on providing resources to the team,” said Werner. “We don’t really care about the bottom line in any given year.”

Werner also described FSG’s relationship with franchise icon Mario Lemieux, who retains a tiny stake in the Penguins, as “good.” He said Lemieux is “welcome whenever he wants to come.”

• Most of the evening took place before the puck dropped, as Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Letang were introduced together for the 19th consecutive season, the longest tenure by three teammates playing for the same franchise in North American professional sports history played. We shouldn’t lose sight of what a spectacular thing this is.

Malkin is just two goals away from No. 500 in his career.

After what happened on Wednesday, I imagine the Penguins will be happy to get a goal from anyone when the puck drops in Detroit.

(Top photo: Jeanine Leech / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)