If you’re keeping score, these aren’t last year’s Rangers. It was at the start of the centennial season that that roster couldn’t even score enough goals to win on home ice. Whatever happened has been put in the rear view mirror.

This group of Rangers is getting it done at home in front of the Garden Faithful, who have been fully behind them. These Blueshirts battle for every inch of the ice, which has resulted in a perfect 5-0 start at MSG. The latest victim was their first one back at the beginning of October. Once again, the Rangers held the Lightning to a single goal to prevail 4-1 for their second victory in 12 days over the more experienced former Stanley Cup winners.

Unlike two weeks ago, when Igor Shesterkin bested Andrei Vasilevskiy prior to a season-ending right knee injury he sustained on Oct. 9, the goalie who stifled the high-powered Bolts was rookie Dylan Garand. Making his second straight start and third of the season, he stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn the game’s third star in improving to 3-0-0 on the season.

So far, Garand has only permitted four goals on 81 shots in four appearances. In fact, he’s now beaten the Lightning in two starts in his young career with his first victory coming back on Apr. 15 last season. However, the Bolts didn’t have a lot to play for last spring. This time around, what the 24-year-old is doing is more impressive. Unlike earning an easy shutout against the lowly Red Wings, followed by a 19-save win over the lottery bound Canucks, he made some timely stops during a tightly contested second period that saw the Lightning press for the equalizer.

Instead, Will Cuylle scored for the third time in two games to increase the Rangers lead to 3-1 before the second expired. With Cuylle finally starting to perculate, the only passenger missing is Pavel Dorofeyev. It isn’t about a lack of effort with the streaky Russian finisher.

Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan has tried everything over the last two games to help Dorofeyev snap out of it. He hasn’t scored since a 5-1 win over the Lightning on Oct. 1. Due to his struggles, Sullivan skipped Dorofeyev for one shift before returning him to the top line. Hopefully, he’ll be able to contribute on Thursday when the Blueshirts pay a visit to Newark to face the archrival Devils.

The biggest storyline so far has been the dominant play of Alexis Lafreniere. For a fourth consecutive game, he scored and continued to look like the Rangers most dominant forward. It’s all about effort with Lafreniere, who buried his sixth on a set up behind the net from Tye Kartye just 62 seconds into the contest.

He wasn’t done, either. On a superb play in his own zone, Kartye lofted a backhand pass ahead for Lafreniere, which he turned into a breakaway goal by driving a wrist shot high blocker past Vasilevskiy for a 2-0 lead. At the time he scored, the 25-year-old former 2020 first overall pick took the league lead with his seventh of the season.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the goal was how Lafreniere used his strength to ward off the backcheck of Anthony Cirelli to finish off the play that started from the Rangers’ own end. J.T. Miller picked up a secondary assist to extend his point streak to five straight (1-5-6).

Over a personal best four-game goal streak, Lafreniere has all seven of his goals, highlighted by a hat trick versus the Islanders on Oct. 6. After starting the year without a point in the first three games, he’s up to a team-leading 10 over the last five. The more you watch him during shifts, the more his confidence grows. He looks like a different player so far. Unlike past seasons, he’s burying his chances. If you haven’t seen him play, they’re coming from primary areas. He also had two empty netters in a four-point explosion eight days ago.

When Sullivan decided to move him off the first line, many observers complained that it could hurt Lafreniere due to the chemistry he’s developed with Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault. They underestimated Lafreniere’s harder work habits, which explains why he’s a good fit with Miller and Kartye.

Unlike some other stars who cheat the game by searching for breakaways, Lafreniere has learned to use his improvement defensively to transition up the ice. When he’s in on the forecheck, that plays to his strength. He’s also skilled enough to elude defenders and use his teammates well by playing effectively down low. The end result has seen Lafreniere blossom into a more complete player, which is why Sullivan finally trusts him late in games.

If they can get Dorofeyev untracked, the Rangers are going to be a tough team to beat because they play much harder in all three zones than at any point the past two years. The speed with which they can go from defense to offense is proof that even team president and general manager Chris Drury didn’t screw up last summer by acquiring the steadier second pair of Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi in a pair of deals that are paying off so far.

They each had a strong night against the Lightning. Top scorer Nikita Kucherov was held without a point and only two shots despite the Rangers handing Tampa four power plays. However, aided by their marked improvement on the penalty kill, they limited the Lightning to five shots while shorthanded.

Garand was able to handle each without a problem. The only blemish was on a 2-on-1 rush late in the opening 20 minutes. After rookie Albert Smits got caught up ice, Zemgus Girgensons faked pass and then beat Garand high short side that cut it to 2-1 late in the period. It was one he probably should’ve had. Braden Schneider played it perfectly to give Garand the shooter. Garand was just a little off his near goalpost.

If there’s a cause for optimism, it was how well he responded by not giving up anything the rest of the way. It says plenty about his character and maturity. For a goalie that was made available on waivers, he looks pretty composed as the new number one for the Rangers.

The game also marked the return of Matt Rempe to the lineup. Inserted by Sullivan for one purpose, Rempe had the proper response to Jeffrey Viel, who challenged him with the Lightning trailing 2-0. In his first fight since last year, he handled Viel by knocking him down with some heavy rights. To his credit, Viel got back up and continued to fight. Rempe was too much for him.

Perhaps due to the schedule and the opponent who only dressed 11 forwards due to Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper going with seven defensemen, Sullivan limited his fourth line to six shifts. Both Rempe and rookie Cole Beaudoin finished with under four minutes of ice time. Oliver Bjorkstrand received 11 shifts, including 1:10 on the second power play unit. He also got moved up to take a shift with Zibanejad and Perreault.

With a few minutes left in the third, Vasilevskiy was lifted for an extra attacker during a power play, which gave the Lightning a 6-on-4. The Rangers had no problem whatsoever. As it was nearing its conclusion, Zibanejad made a strong defensive play on Brayden Point at center ice by taking away the puck and sending it into an open net for the final margin.

The Rangers next play tomorrow night versus the Devils. Given how well things have gone, it’ll be a good test to see where they are. Especially against nemesis Jack Hughes. We’ll find out if they can shut down the explosive Devils star in enemy territory.

THREE STARS

3rd Star Tye Kartye 2 primary assists, 1 SOG, +2 in 16:21

2nd Star Dylan Garand 25 saves on 26 shots to improve to 3-0-0

1st Star Alexis Lafreniere 2 goals (6th, 7th), 4 SOG, +2 in 19:23