A summer filled with questions regarding cap space and roster makeup has come and gone. Fall has arrived and there is but one question that stands out from all the others.

The New York Rangers opened their 2022-23 season with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. The win comes against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs after coming back from a 2-0 series deficit. Many said the Rangers had no fuel left in the tank against the Lightning in June, as they played 20 games in 40 days and struggled to score at even strength for the last four games. Tuesday was a fresh start, and the Rangers outplayed the runner-up from last season for 60 minutes in all situations.

Even strength play was a big concern last season and last night there was already a big improvement. The Rangers had more chances and they were of higher quality than the Lightning according to Steve Valiquette's report courtesy of Clear Sight Analytics. New York outshot Tampa Bay 39 to 26, thanks to 14 shots on the power play. The addition of Vincent Trocheck helped the Rangers win 63.8% of their faceoffs, including 12 of 14 in the first period. Trocheck won 10 of 16 faceoffs in his Rangers debut.

If Tuesday night was an indication of improvement for the Rangers at even strength, then this will be a big year. Of course, it's only one game and off-nights are inevitable, but there's a lot to be excited about based on the complete effort demonstrated in game one. K'Andre Miller looks poised for a breakout campaign. Kaapo Kakko looked great on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, especially in the first period. And Artemi Panarin is more...Artemi Panarin than he was in the playoffs.

Before the beginning of the regular season last year, I explained that I wanted to see consistency and character from the Rangers. They did that and then some, as the team never had more than three consecutive losses in the regular season and even competed with the Carolina Hurricanes for the Metropolitan Division title. On top of that, fans saw more personality and camaraderie than in 2020-21 from the entire squad, including future stars K'Andre Miller and Alexis Lafrenière.

This year is all about performance, in addition to the above two elements. Performance, in my opinion, encapsulates the Rangers' potential ability to play complete games on a more consistent basis. Too often last year were the Rangers bailed out by Igor Shesterkin or their lethal power play unit. If they want to go further than last year, more production needs to come from five-on-five play. As I said, there's a lot to like from the first game of the season, but the Rangers need to be able to repeat that level of play as many times as possible this season. Only then will they be able to answer that elusive question.

Credit for the thumbnail goes to the New York Rangers and Socios US.