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DETROIT — The Rangers had already played two games before the Red Wings even started their season Friday night.
And after a tumultuous offseason featuring heaps of change and uncertainty, Detroit fans inside Little Caesars Arena unleashed an abundance of pent-up frustration that made for an entirely different atmosphere than the Blueshirts had for their home opener at Madison Square Garden.
The Red Wings are still trying to stabilize after transitioning front office staple Steve Yzerman into an advisory role and promoting assistant general manager Shawn Horcoff on an interim basis.
Red Wings fans in attendance let the organization know just how they feel about the team and Dylan Larkin, who was stripped of his captaincy after he requested a trade this summer.
In street clothes during player introductions due to an injury, Larkin was booed incessantly.
The lack of enthusiasm in the building was beneficial for the Rangers early in the first period. Earning the first power play of the night, the Rangers capitalized when Sean Durzi recorded his first goal as a Ranger on a laser shot from the high slot.
A “sell the team” chant promptly reverberated around the lower bowl in response. It was one of a couple that could be heard throughout the night.
“We had a great start to the game,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “First 10 minutes, I thought we were the better team. I thought the next probably 25 minutes, they were the better team. You give Detroit credit, they got a lot of speed, they got a strong team game. It’s their first game. It probably took them a little bit to get into it. Once they got their legs, they started to put us under pretty good pressure. I thought we fought through it.”
While the Rangers controlled play for the majority of the opening frame, it was all Detroit in the final minutes. The Red Wings posted the last six shots on goal — not including Anton Johansson’s shot off the far post — heading into the first intermission, but they weren’t able to break through.
Eeli Tolvanen scored an empty-net goal to give the Rangers some insurance in the end.
Who plays on the right wing of the fourth line will be an ongoing evaluation for the Rangers.
After opening the season in Boston with Matt Rempe in that spot, where the 6-foot-9 behemoth has consistently skated over his 86 NHL games, Sullivan decided to go with Jaroslav Chmelar for the home-opening victory over the Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
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Chmelar remained in the Rangers lineup Friday night in Detroit, which was to be expected following such a resounding win.
“A lot of it is who we look at as our opponent and what we think is a better matchup, based on who the opponents are,” Sullivan said of the decision. “Remps is a different type of player than Jaro. They’re both valuable players for our team, they’re just different players.
“I’ve had conversations with both of those guys around that and the lineup decisions that we’ll make moving forward. Going in against a Tampa team, we thought it was a better fit for Jaro.”
The Rangers are scheduled to be off on Saturday before returning to game action Sunday night at the Garden against the Utah Mammoth.
