The Rangers opened their season in style last night, dropping their home opener to last year’s 30th ranked Colorado Avalanche team. New York’s season isn’t even 24 hours old, and they’re already on pace to surpass the 74-75 Washington Capitals for the worst record in NHL history. Here are today’s news and link:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: COL 4, NYR 2 (4:09 video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: Henrik Lundqvist picked up right where he left off last season, getting outplayed by Semyon Varlamov and spoiling Kevin Shattenkirk’s Broadway debut (CBS)
• Sean Hartnett urges fans not to worry about dropping a home game to one of the worst teams in the league (CBS)
• Larry Brooks notes that Alain Vigneault’s squad had plenty of things to fix before tomorrow’s game in Toronto (NY Post)
• Brett Cyrgalis thinks that Kevin Shattenkirk envisioned his Rangers’ debut going a bit differently (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay points out that Filip Chytil had an unspectacular regular season debut (Newsday)
• Justin Tasch highlights Brady Skjei as a player the team will need more from throughout the season (NY Daily News)
• Kevin Shattenkirk “wrote” about his crazy July 1st experience (The Players Tribune)
• The BLS staff made bold predictions for the season prior to last night’s game (Blue Line Station)
• Nicholas Zararis argues that Henrik Lundqvist is underappreciated (Blue Line Station)
• Shayna Goldman wonders if Lundqvist is still capable of carrying New York. If last night was any indication, the answer is a resounding “no” (FanRag)
• Kevin DeLury offered twelve thoughts ahead of last night’s season opener (The Sports Daily)
• Chris Studley previews the Hartford Wolfpack (Elite Sports NY)
• Jess Rubenstein delivers a prospect update on Tim Gettinger (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Postgame Notes: The team’s top line of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and Pavel Buchnevich was dominant (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: Alain Vigneault,(2:02) Henrik Lundqvist,(1:08) Ryan McDonagh,(1:42) Mika Zibanejad,(1:31) and Kevin Shattenkirk (0:51) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Dave Melton recaps the Chicago Blackhawks’ season opener, as Brandon Saad’s hat trick powered the Blackhawks to a 10-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins (Second City Hockey)
• Luke Fox examines the top 12 players set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1st (Sportsnet)
• Matt Larkin made five bold predictions before Wednesday’s games (The Hockey News)
• Adam Gretz speculates how the Jack Eichel and Nikolaj Ehlers contract extensions could reshape the landscape of contract negotiations (FanRag)/