Dylan Larkin may have ensured at least one day of a little more relaxed atmosphere at home.
The Detroit Red Wings remain in dire straits, their fortunes dependent not only on winning the last three games, but also on at least one team losing. The Wings are in action again Saturday, April 11 (5 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit) in the home finale at Little Caesars Arena against the New Jersey Devils, but that leaves a day to feel good about having downed the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3, to stay in the race for the second wild card. Larkin contributed a hat trick, looking more like himself after he suffered a leg injury March 6.
He’s the only Wings player who has suffered through the franchise’s entire nine-year playoff drought, and the fact the Wings have fallen from 12 points inside the playoff picture in late January to where they are now has grated. That’s how much he craves making the playoffs. That’s why he was so emotional as the goals rolled in Thursday.
“I mean, saying it is one thing, and going home, and thinking about it all day and night, and driving my wife crazy for all the ups and downs,” Larkin said. “But to go out and do it, and that’s what we did as a team.”
The Wings (41-29-9) have 91 points with three games remaining, trailing the Ottawa Senators (94 points, three games left) for the East’s second wild-card berth. And the New York Islanders (91 points, three games left) and Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points, three games left) are right around Detroit.
“We need six more points, and then we’ll see where we land,” defenseman Moritz Seider said.
The Wings have talked over the past week about blocking what they called “outside noise” – i.e., the pressure of the standings, the boos from fans that have greeted poor performances, questions from reporters about their recent record (a 3-6-1 mark in their past 10 games) – and at least for one night, accomplished just that. It helped the Flyers gifted the Wings 94 seconds of a two-man advantage to start the second period, during which the Wings turned into a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 lead.
Then Larkin scored shorthanded, on what would stand as the winning goal. After returning from a seven-game layoff nursing an injury to his right leg on March 24, Larkin has multipoint performances his last two games.
“Clearly he’s skating better the last two games than he had been. So that’s a really easy answer,” coach Todd McLellan said. “The skating, the pace and the ability to separate from the checkers and pull away, even more power and pop in a shot. And a lot of that comes from loading your body up with your legs and releasing it. So it’s all a lot of real good things.
“Everybody wants to make the playoffs and he’s a big part of us trying to get there. and a bit of a relief for him. When he’s pushing through some of what he’s going through right now and you can’t score, there’s other ways that you can help the team, and we’ve been trying to angle towards that a little bit. Tonight, he broke out offensively, which was a good thing.”
Larkin also had an assist on a night multiple Wings celebrated big performances: Seider, with a goal and four assists, his first career five-point performance; Patrick Kane, with a goal and two assists; Alex DeBrincat, with his 40th goal (becoming the first Red Wing to 40 since Marian Hossa in 2008-09).
All well and good, and it buys at least a day of breathing room, but McLellan made note when he was asked about his level of confidence that the Wings would come out with such a convincing performance.
“That question kind of bothers me, that we’d even have to ask it at this time of the year when we’re that close,” he said. “But I understand.” He went on to reference what he saw from the team after Wednesday’s practice, saying, “I felt at that point like they were ready to play. I thought we had a good practice.
“I believe the things we worked on carried over into the game. So you know, they should be showing up, they should be playing. And they did.”
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com.
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Next up: Devils
Matchup: Red Wings (41-28-9) vs. New Jersey (40-36-3); home finale.
Faceoff: 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dylan Larkin buys Detroit Red Wings breathing room in playoff race
Reporting by Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
