Rangers playoff tunnel vision is already showing

MONTREAL — There is a natural one-track mindedness the Rangers have adopted since falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup Final berth for the second time in three years.It has allowed everything about this 4-0-1 start — the good and the bad — to feel inconsequential.When nothing truly matters until April, it’s easy 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 Henrik Lundqvist always 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 chances.

I think we’ve been trying to clean that up.“We trust that we have a good team in here and I think 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 talked about their deficiencies matter-of-factly and judiciously.

Tightening up on defense has been a focal point to start the season, especially since they’ve taken care of ...