The Oilers are in New York to take on the Rangers this morning at 11 am MT and here are your game day notes.

1. The Rangers started 0-3 on the season with losses to Nashville, Buffalo, and Carolina, but finally picked up their first win of the season in overtime against San Jose on Thursday. This start isn’t all too surprising for New York, who finished dead last in the competitive Metropolitan Division last season, as they begin to navigate through a rebuilding process.

2. General manager Jeff Gorton and Glen Sather wrote a letter to the fans that was tweeted out by the team’s official account explaining that the team was going to rebuild. The letter explicitly mapped out that they were going to be dealing out older, familiar faces at the trade deadline for younger talent they could build around. Beyond that, the letter said the organization doesn’t take the fans for granted and it asked for the fans to be patient throughout the process.

3. It’s interesting seeing how teams in different markets handle things like this. The Oilers said they were going to tear it all down and go through a long, slow, painful rebuild back in 2009. Fans bought in and waited patiently. But as the team failed to show any kind of tangible improvement, things got testy. Along the way, fans were told by executives who knew a little something about winning that there were two different tiers of fans. After last year’s massive disappointment, the organization just kind of shrugged and said: “deal with it.” Oilers fans have been incredibly patient throughout this process but will fans in a city with like a dozen other professional sports teams to choose from respond in the same way?

4. Rangers fans are used to seeing a competitive team, so last season and the impending seasons of ugly play is going to be a strange thing for them. Before missing last year, New York made the playoffs in 11 of 12 seasons in the post-lockout era and have been one of the NHL’s most consistent contenders. From Jaromir Jagr to Marian Gaborik to Rick Nash, the Rangers were consistently able to bring in top-level talent to remain competitive. Finally, they decided it was time to slam the reset button. Over the past few months, New York’s firesale has seen them deal away Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller, Nash, Nick Holden, and Michael Grabner. After spending so many years trying to win it all, the Rangers’ prospect cupboard was totally bare. They sold futures to acquire Martin St. Louis in 2014, Keith Yandle in 2015, and Eric Staal in 2016.

5. Another big change the team made this off-season was firing Alain Vigneault and replacing him with Boston University’s David Quinn.

Quinn has certainly stayed true to holding players responsible. Kevin Shattenkirk, the Rangers’ big free agent add from the 2017 off-season, was healthy scratched for the team’s win against the Sharks. Quinn said that Shattenkirk needed more urgency in his game and wasn’t afraid to make the $6.65 million man watch from the rafters.

6. The Rangers are a shell of their former selves, of course. They simply don’t have that much skill on their roster so, if they’re going to win games, they’re going to win as they did against San Jose. They relied heavily on a big goaltending performance from Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 41 of 43 shots in the win. Lundqvist has looked excellent all season. He’s played in three games and he’s stopped 97 of the 103 shots he’s faced. No matter how bad the Rangers are, you’re always in the game when you have an elite goalie who’s capable of stealing wins for you.

7. “We needed that one,” Lundqvist said after New York’s gritty win over San Jose. The Oilers are in the same spot as the Rangers were on Thursday. The team is winless and they badly need a win on Saturday afternoon. After Saturday’s game, they’ll head to Winnipeg for another difficult road game before heading home to face Boston for the home opener. It’s been a hell schedule and the Oilers can’t afford to not beat the most beatable team they face early on in the season.

8. The Oilers could really use a stolen win from Cam Talbot. I don’t think New York is going to be one of those games he has to steal, but somewhere in the next few games, he has to do what Lundqvist did for the Rangers on Thursday. He didn’t look sharp in the season opener against New Jersey and he was just alright in Thursday’s loss to Boston. One of the reasons the Oilers unravelled last season was Talbot having a poor season. The Oilers badly need him to be the Cam Talbot of 2016-17 and not the Cam Talbot of 2017-18.

9. Uh oh! This is an afternoon game! The Oilers always struggle when playing afternoon games. Last season they went something like 2-9 in matinees. They’ll play nine afternoon games this season, so that’s something they’re going to have to get figured out.

10. What I found frustrating about the loss to Boston was how similar the team looked to last year’s team. I will say, there was more energy on Thursday than what we saw last season, but the same issues prevailed. The team lacked a genuine offensive punch behind Connor McDavid. When he isn’t on the ice, the Oilers aren’t a threat to score.