MONTREAL — Th🌃ere is a natural one-track mindedness the Raꩲngers have adopted since falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup Final berth for the second time in three years.
It has a✱llowed everything about this 4-0-1 start — the good and the bad — to feel inconsequenꩵtial.
When no🎃thing truly matters until April, it’s easꦏy to stay levelheaded in October.
The Blueshirts will play this regular season as the formality that it is, but don’t be surprised if emotion is hard to come by. In a way, tunnel vision to the playoffs should not only be beneficial, but indicative of the swagger with which the Rangers are☂ currently playing.
But Hall of Fame goalie and former face of the franchise Henriꦑk Lundqvist alw🔜ays talked about appreciating the journey and embracing the process ahead of the results.
The Rangers would do well to remember that.
“You can see last year as a failure because we didn’t win, but I think we proved ourselves,” Mika Zibanejad said pointedly after the Rangers defeated the Maple Leafs on Saturday night. “Compared to, maybe, three years ago, when we went to the conference finals and came back. I think the pressure was on there, but I think just having basically the same group as last year is huge for us. We know what we’re capable of doing. We know⛦, obviously, the system better than we did last year at the beginning of the season.
“The confidence in each other and the guys in the lineup — it’s big. I think we’re working hard. There were some, maybe, in the early games, some chances that we gave up too many and maybe too big of c🌼hances. I think we’ve been trying to clean that up.
“We trust that we ha🌺ve a good team in here and I t♔hink everyone is ready to work every game. That’s important, that’s something that I think we’ve done a good job of.”
The Rangers have t𓂃alked about their deficiencies matterꦜ-of-factly and judiciously. Tightening up on defense has been a focal point to start the season, especially since they’ve taken care of the offensive side of the puck.
They’ll say the chances are too loud or too noisy, echoing head coach Pe🧸ter Laviolette’s verbiage that has taken such a deep root in this Rangers team sinceꦰ the moment the 59-year-old stepped into the locker room.
As much as the players are staying even-keeled, Laviolette has had theꦜ same demeanor after each game — regardless of performance, result or opponent.
The Rangers going undefeated in regulation through the first🥂 five games of the regular season may be the least surprising aspect of the NHL’s start to the 2024-25 campaign. As of Sunday morning, just three other teams ෴— Flames, Wild and Jets — could say the same.
They’ve earned complete and utter respꦅect from around the leagu𝄹e.
I mean, opposing coaches and goalies aไre coming out and advocating for Igor Shesterkin’s big payday — with Toronto netminder Anthony Stolarz most recently saying he can see why the 28-year-old Russian is primed to become the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history after his 34-save performance against th📖e Maple Leafs.
Artemi Panar💛in and his league-leading 12 points (tied with the Panth𝐆ers’ Sam Reinhart as of Sunday morning) are headlining every NHL graphic and dominating panel discussions.
And there was Alexis Lafreniere getting pulled for a postgame interview with Sportsnet on Saturday night in Toronto, getting recognized for the burgeoning star that the 2020 first-overall pick has undoubtedly become over the past🌄 nine 💖months.
If the five-𒅌game point streak and six total points didn’t say so, the concluding quote No. 13 delivered certainly did.
“We had a nic𝄹e run last year,” Lafreniere said. “We’re working to have a longer one this 𓃲year.”
