It is possible that no more than six players who were in Tuesday night’s lineup against the Bruins will make it to the Rangers opening-night roster, with only nine having pulled on the Blueshirt last season. The result of this exhibition game did not count. 

Get Mollie Walker’s text messages with the latest Rangers buzz and get your questions answered — exclusive to Sports+ subscribers.

And yet, this 5-4 overtime defeat in which the Rangers played casual hockey in the third period while frittering away a 4-1 lead prompted head coach Mike Sullivan to send a message to his team in a postgame meeting.

“It’s not about the loss. It’s about how we lost, right?” Sullivan said. “One of the things we talked about on Day 1 was the responsibility we all have to live up to and set a standard here; a standard of excellence I think we all aspire to in this environment every day. We all have a responsibility to that.

“For me, the most important thing is living up to that standard. And ultimately, that standard becomes what we’re willing to accept. If we’re willing to accept this, where do we go from here? That’s the conversation I had with the group.”