Rangers’ Mike Sullivan earns 500th win against Flyers

New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan earned a major milestone on Saturday as his team defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a 6-3 margin for the 500th win as an NHL head coach.

In doing so, he became the 30th coach in NHL history to reach the milestone. He’s now just two wins away from passing Pat Burns to move in to 28th all-time.

Sullivan joined the NHL head coaching ranks when he took over as the bench boss for the Boston Bruins for the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons, when he racked up the first 70 wins of his tenure before moving on.

It would be nearly a decade before Sullivan got another shot behind an NHL bench, as he got the call up from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins in the middle of the 2015-16 campaign when the Pens opted to let go of Mike Johnston.

Sullivan’s tenure in Pittsburgh cemented him as one of the most accomplished head coaches in recent NHL history. He immediately led the team to the 2016 Stanley Cup championship, the second of the Sidney Crosby era in the Steel City. They followed that up by becoming the first team to repeat as Cup champs in 2017 since the 1991 and 1992 Penguins.

Pittsburgh and Sullivan parted ways this off-season, opening the door for the Massachusetts native to land on Broadway after the Rangers fired Peter Laviolette following a disappointing 2025-26 campaign.

On Saturday, the Rangers jumped all over the Flyers early, scoring goals on each of their first three shots on goal to establish a lead they would not relinquish.

Sullivan’s first season in New York has not gone according to plan, as the Rangers find themselves in last place in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 21-22-6.

The struggles prompted general manager Chris Drury to issue a statement on social media promising a retool, not a rebuild, that would see some of the team’s players depart via trade prior to the deadline in March.

Still, Sullivan’s lengthy track record gives Blueshirts fans hope that he will be able to lead a turnaround next season.