RECAP: Red Wings’ defensive effort not enough in 2-0 shutout loss to Rangers on 2026-27 Opening Night

DETROIT – Coming up short on their 2026-27 Opening Night but getting a better feel for what specific areas of their game need to improve moving forward, the Detroit Red Wings were shut out by the New York Rangers, 2-0, at Little Caesars Arena on Friday.

“We didn’t give up a lot,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “Going the other way, though, we’re going to have to score some goals to win games. We had some looks, not near enough. So, that’s going to have to get polished up. The players that are here have to understand that. They have to expect that from themselves and their teammates. You can’t just rely on three or four guys because when they are dry, somebody else has to step up. We’ll get that from them. I’m sure they’re not happy losing the game, but I don’t think it destroyed our spirit by any means.”

Goaltender John Gibson, who started 57 games in the 2025-26 campaign, made 19 saves for Detroit (0-1-0; 0 points). Making his fourth career NHL appearance, netminder Dylan Garand stopped all 22 shots he faced for New York (2-1-0; 4 points).

“I felt we played solid defensively,” said Anton Johansson, who logged 19:10 of ice time in his NHL debut. “I feel like we had a couple scoring chances. We got to take care of them.”

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead 5:12 into the opening frame when Gabe Perreault pulled up at the bottom of the right face-off circle and passed back to a trailing Sean Durzi, who fired in a one-timer through traffic from the high slot. They appeared to add another power-play goal at 7:10 -- Oliver Bjorkstrand redirected a shot from Durzi -- but it was wiped away after the Red Wings successfully challenged for offside.

Notably, the Red Wings have won 20 consecutive offside challenges dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.

“Obviously, it’s not ideal to start with a couple of PKs right into the season but we got out of it fairly well,” Moritz Seider said. “We were consistent on the kill, took over in the second half of the first period and got our game going.”

Detroit did find its rhythm as the game progressed, building a 20-15 shot advantage by the end of a scoreless second period, which even saw Marco Kasper and Durzi exchange some punches at 12:13. Kasper's teammates appreciated his willingness to drop the gloves, and many skated to the penalty box afterward to give the 22-year-old forward well-deserved fist bumps.

“He stood his ground,” McLellan said of Kasper, who picked up his second career NHL fighting major. “It was a good, competitive situation – and that’s Marco. I really thought that Marco, (Michael Rasmussen) and (Keegan Kolesar) held onto pucks real well in the offensive zone, won a lot of the board work, spent most of their shifts in the o-zone. You’d like to see them get rewarded for their touches around the net, but I thought they held onto it well. They played big. They played strong.”

The Red Wings continued to push for the equalizer in the third period and had their share of chances, but Eeli Tolvanen's empty-net goal with 1:16 remaining spoiled their opener.

On special teams, Detroit went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

“Honestly, we were just a couple passes away from really connecting to good chances,” Seider said. “It’s one chip, one pass out of our own zone and into the neutral zone and getting some odd-mans. If we can connect on those, I think we get odd-man rushes. This is what this system kind of praises, and we just got to execute.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will continue their season-opening homestand when they face off against the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday afternoon.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on how his club settled in after the game’s first 10 minutes on Friday

“The first 10 minutes was one team that was playing their third game and another team that hadn’t played in a week and got into penalty trouble right away. So all of a sudden, you’re not getting the touches, you’re 100 percent on your heels and you’re just trying to defend. And then we got going.”

McLellan on how Detroit can play to generate more scoring chances

“We have to be able to manufacture two or three (goals) on given night. And if we can’t we’re not going to win a lot of games. It’s pretty simple.”

Seider on Detroit’s season opener

 “Overall, I thought maybe not our best day but probably still a pretty good effort from everyone. Just got to bury our chances, really focus on those. And then, I think we could’ve flipped that game today.”

Seider on Johansson’s first career NHL game

“Everyone on the back end played pretty solid, I think. We didn’t give them a whole lot. They didn’t get any 2-on-1s or 3-on-2s. So, I think everyone stayed really composed and true to our system. I’m happy for him. Obviously, he wanted to get a win, but I think he played really well.”

Johansson on his NHL debut

“It was awesome. Opening Night, Red Carpet, everything, player presentations… It was a nervous day, but until the game starts, it felt pretty good.”