The Rangers defeated the Winnipeg Jets in their home opener on October 3rd by a score of 6-4. Both teams played great games on both sides of the ice, but the Blueshirts ended up victorious. Here are my winners and losers for the home opener.

Winner: Henrik Lundqvist

Lundqvist continues to add to his impressive resume, with Thursday night being his 14th straight home opener. Hank earned his 450th win, making him 6th on the all-time wins list and the old Swedish goalie in the top 13. Hank made 43 saves on 47 shots to preserve the victory.

Loser: Lias Andersson

The 3rd-year forward’s night was not off to a great start, with Andersson tripping over a camera wire during the opening night player introductions. Andersson also only saw 8:33 of ice time, the least out of all the forwards despite centering the 3rd line. In that timeframe, he recorded two shots and was a -1 plus/minus.

Winner: New Guys

The two big acquisitions of the Rangers this summer were Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba and star Blue Jackets forward Artemiy Panarin. The two had fantastic Ranger debuts, recording 2 goals and 3 assists total. Panarin was also tied for second on the team in plus/minus with +3 while Trouba led the team in hits with 5.

Loser: Ryan Strome

Strome was unproductive with 2nd line center minutes and had a -1 plus/minus. Outside of winning 9 out of 13 faceoffs, Strome’s name was not heard the rest of the night.

Big Winner: Mika Zibanejad

Going into this season, every Rangers fan had the star center at the top of their captain list, but ultimately the Rangers decided to stick with 4 alternates. Zibanejad showed his leadership this game by scoring a goal and 3 assists, leading the team with a +4 plus/minus, a team-high 7 shots on goal. Mika keeps proving why he is the most underrated center in the National Hockey League.

Big Loser: The Winnipeg Jets

The Jets had solid leads at various points in the game and ultimately gave up the most important one in the third period with a Zibanejad and Howden goals followed by a Brendan Smith empty netter. Most of Winnipeg outside of Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele were nonfactors.

Overall, the Rangers had a great start to the season and hopefully will continue to impress us. Who do you think was also a winner or loser from Thursday’s game? Share your thoughts in the comments below.