There’s No Place Like Home or so we thought.

“There’s no place like home.”

Those were the infamous words of Dorothy played by Judy Garland from The Wizard Of Oz. Or at least so we thought. The Rangers returned to their brand new renovated Madison Square Garden chalk full of former players and celebrities geared towards Page Six. The only thing that matters to Dolan. I’m guessing getting shutout by a backup goalie wasn’t what they had in mind. Indeed, they managed to lose 2-0 to Montreal, who got away with starting Peter Budaj. He stopped all 27 shots making it the third time in 10 games our team has been shutout.

That isn’t supposed to happen in a home opener. Especially one as highly anticipated as tonight. Our heroes were supposed to come out and put in three or four and chase Budaj. Instead, he was strong early stoning Brad Richards and getting some help from the post on Chris Kreider. Instead of getting to him, they managed to let Budaj settle in. I still can’t believe they got shutout. Granted, I missed the game for a glorious work shift. I kept waiting to see some excited tweets from the Garden Faithful. Instead, there was plenty of disappointment by the end of the second period, which sounded like a real gem.

By then, refs Gord Dwyer and Dave Jackson erred by calling Brian Boyle for a dubious rough. Unfortunately, it led to the only goal the Habs needed. A power play tally from Tomas Plekanec. He took full advantage of a coverage miscue between Marc Staal and Taylor Pyatt, who for unknown reasons is still killing penalties. He’s not good at it nor good at much else. But Alain Vigneault keeps sending him out. He basically collided with Staal. They fell on Michael Bournival’s pass to Plekanec, who cut in and deked Henrik Lundqvist going to the backhand for his sixth at 16:34. Brian Gionta added an assist. Despite outshooting Montreal 21-18 through two, they trailed on the scoreboard.

I was still thinking they’d comeback. After all, it was at the Garden. A home opener to boot in front of former legends Rod Gilbert, Ed Giacomin along side ’94 Cup members Adam Graves, Sergei Nemchinov and cult hero Stefan Matteau. Even if I am pessimistic by nature, I had hope they would win. Get things started the right way. It never happened. Instead, I got to my car and heard radio team Kenny Albert and Dave Maloney lamenting the officiating with seven minutes left. Apparently, they whistled Kreider for another softy. He sounded like he was our best player. He hit the post and was flying. In fact, he nearly set up Derek Stepan but our struggling top center shot it into Budaj. From catching the replay now, I can tell it wasn’t a good night for the refs. I’m not going to blame them. Boyle didn’t despite a call that sounded like it was influenced by a whiny Montreal bench. Surprise surprise.

If you’re going to win in this league, it’s still your job to score goals. We know they haven’t provided much offense so far. It doesn’t help that Ryan Callahan remains out and Rick Nash was a no show for intros. I guess we won’t see the latter until God only knows. Carl Hagelin sounds like he’s ready for tonight’s visit to the Islanders. They sent down Jesper Fast. Something quite a few fans aren’t happy with. Especially with AV pet Pyatt staying. Fast does need to play more. But come on. It’s the same story with this franchise. Vets over kids.

As fate would have it, I got to hear Albert call Alex Galchenyuk’s controversial goal off a Lars Eller feed. On a two-on-one, Eller had the presence of mind to backhand a pass across for a cutting Galchenyuk, who had the puck go off his skate. It was ruled a goal on the ice. Both Albert and Maloney felt after watching replays it might be overturned. It went to Toronto. We all know how reliable they are. The same crack committee who waived off a J.T. Miller apparent tying goal at Phildelphia didn’t reverse the call. Either because they couldn’t or wouldn’t. That didn’t sit well with Lundqvist, who basically called the league out- indicating that if it wasn’t a kick, he didn’t know what was. Good for Hank. He deserved a better fate stopping 25 of 27 in his return. The lack of support continues to haunt them.

It doesn’t matter who’s in and out of the lineup. As Boyle said during a good postgame interview, it’s their job to create more offensive pressure and score. By the sound and looks of it, they didn’t do a good job generating enough chances on Budaj. That’s unacceptable. It doesn’t look like they’re getting Nash back anytime soon. Our worst fears could be realized. Callahan probably will be back in a couple of weeks. Hagelin probably is a go later tonight which should give them a boost.

The Islanders will have brand new acquisition Thomas Vanek in their arsenal. He’s playing on the top line with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. Unlike us, they can score. That doesn’t matter. It’s time for our team to Step up. No pun intended. No goals in 10 for Stepan. He has to pick it up. Everyone does. Isn’t that why Vigneault was hired? No more excuses.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (25 saves)

2nd Star-Peter Budaj, MTL (27 saves for shutout)

1st Star-Tomas Plekanec, MTL (6th of season-game winner)