Red Wings opening night ended with 22 shots, zero goals, and a building that made sure the front office heard about it. The Detroit Red Wings lost 2-0 to the New York Rangers on Friday at Little Caesars Arena, wasting a steady NHL debut from rookie defenseman Anton Johansson. Detroit outshot New York 22-21 and still could not solve Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand, who stopped all 22 for the shutout. There were ups and downs, but on the whole it was a decent showing that had nothing to show for it.

Red Wings Opening Night Started Slow

New York looked like the team with two games already behind it, and it controlled the pace early. Nate Danielson took a holding penalty 3:31 into the first period, and the Rangers needed less than two minutes of it. Sean Durzi beat John Gibson with a slap shot at 5:12, with Gabe Perreault and Will Cuylle picking up the assists. Durzi landed in New York on July 1 as the centerpiece of the Vincent Trocheck trade with the Utah Mammoth, a deal that also sent prospect Cole Beaudoin and a 2027 third-round pick to the Rangers.

It got chippy 26 seconds later. Michael Rasmussen took a roughing penalty in an after-whistle scrum, and Keegan Kolesar and Joe Veleno, a former Red Wing now in New York, traded unsportsmanlike conduct minors that canceled each other out. Rasmussen’s penalty put the Rangers back on the power play anyway. Durzi appeared to score again later in the period, but Detroit challenged for offside and the goal came off the board.

Detroit closed the shot gap in the back half of the period. Anton Johansson put a snap shot just over the crossbar, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard worked a chance of his own, and Marco Kasper was turned aside by Garand. Alberts Smits went off for cross-checking at 12:38, which handed the Red Wings the first power play of their season. They did not score on it.

Strong Period, Same Score

The second period was Detroit’s best, and the Red Wings looked far more poised than they had in the first. Durzi tripped J.T. Compher 47 seconds in, which gave Detroit its second power play of the night. That one came up empty too. The Red Wings finished the game 0-for-2 with the extra man; New York went 1-for-4.

Kasper had seen enough of Durzi’s antics by 12:13, and the two dropped the gloves and each took a five-minute fighting major. Kasper has always worked for everything on the ice, and it was good to see. At the same stoppage Axel Sandin-Pellikka was called for hooking, which put New York on its third power play of the game, and Gibson made the saves that kept the deficit at one. Kasper otherwise led Detroit with four shots and won 10 of his 13 faceoffs. The period ended 1-0.

Anton Johansson Held Up in His NHL Debut

The best thing Detroit took out of the opener was the defenseman nobody had penciled in. Anton Johansson, a 22-year-old from Stockholm whom Detroit drafted 105th overall in 2022, played 19:10 in his first NHL game, third-most among Red Wings defensemen behind Moritz Seider’s 25:16 and Justin Faulk’s 21:29. He was handed the second pair alongside Faulk, a job that opened up with Simon Edvinsson still unsigned. Johansson finished even with a block and a hit, had the crossbar chance in the first, and is showing he deserves that spot.

A Shutout, and a Loud Building

Detroit started the third strongly until Faulk went off for slashing 1:28 in. The Red Wings killed the penalty and then drifted, though the team never fully collapsed and came back together as the period went on. Both sides defended well through the middle of it and the chances thinned out. Lucas Raymond carried the puck up ice in the final minutes and dropped a New York defender with a deke in the corner, which was about as close as Detroit came. Eeli Tolvanen sealed it into the empty net at 18:44, with Tye Kartye and Adam Fox credited on the assists, and New York had its 2-0 win.

The crowd was the other story. Dylan Larkin was met with loud boos, and “Sell the team” chants went up more than once. None of that was a surprise, and it should put real pressure on the front office. Garand, Durzi and Tolvanen took the three stars. All three were Rangers.