NHL Opening Night: Red Wings Top Wild In Little Caesars Arena Debut, Rangers Fall To Avalanche

Both the younger players and the veterans of the Detroit Red Wings displayed great skill in Thursday’s home opening 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

NHL Opening Night games scores

The game marked the Wings’ first contest at the new $863 million Little Caesars Arena, and former defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom made an appearance for the ceremonial puck drop.

Anthony Mantha scored the team’s first goal at the venue, and Dylan Larkin netted 23 seconds later. Captain Henrik Zetterberg and Czech winger Martin Frk also scored.

Meanwhile, the New York Rangers suffered a 4-2 home loss to the Colorado Avalanche in their opener on Thursday. Mika Zibanejad scored both goals — both on power plays in the last 2:30 of the first period — for New York, which blew several late chances.

“I think honestly on most nights if we make some of those mistakes that we did tonight, we will be on the wrong side of things,” said defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who was making his debut with the Rangers after one season with the Washington Capitals. “I think we saw firsthand the level of play was much higher than it was in the preseason. They came out to play. We fed into what they do well — transition hockey, making skilled plays. They are a fast team and we just kind of fed them in the wrong areas and they were able to capitalize.”

The Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4, the Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators 4-3, and the Chicago Blackhawks thrashed the Pittsburgh Penguins 10-1.

The Islanders visit the Columbus Blue Jackets for their season opener on Friday at 7 pm EST.

The brand-new Vegas Golden Knights will visit the Dallas Stars on Friday at 8:30 pm EST for their opener.

DETROIT, MI – OCTOBER 5: Nick Jensen #3 of the Detroit Red Wings clears the puck under pressure from Daniel Winnik #26 of the Minnesota Wild during the third period at Little Caesars Arena on October 5, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. The Red Wings defeated the Wild 4-2. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)