The good news – if it holds up – is that the Detroit Red Wings don’t project captain Dylan Larkin to be out for very long.
The bad news is this week has shown how far they still have to go, even with reinforcements on the way.
Larkin left the game against the Florida Panthers on Friday, March 6, midway through the third period. As he pulled up to take a shot, his right leg crumbled, and while he was able to make it to the bench on his own, he was in visible pain as he was helped down the tunnel.
“We don’t think it’s going to be long-term, but he needs to be looked at,” coach Todd McLellan said.
The Wings (35-21-7) head out on a four-game road trip that begins in New Jersey against the Devils on Sunday (7 p.m., ESPN), with the probability of facing a stretch without Larkin.
“He’s our best player,” defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “He’s the captain. Drives a lot of offense for us. Drives the play for us every time he’s on the ice, so a really important player for us.”
The Wings have more to worry about than an injury to Larkin. For the second time this week, they hosted an opponent that had played the night before, and for the second time, they lost. They fell, 3-1, to the Panthers two nights after squandering a two-goal lead and losing in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights.
That Vegas game was cited as motivation for the Wings’ trade-deadline moves by general manager Steve Yzerman during his afternoon news conference to discuss the additions of defenseman Justin Faulk and forward David Perron. Faulk is expected to be available Sunday; Perron in about two weeks, as he’s in the final phase of preparation after undergoing sports hernia surgery. Yzerman’s moves reinforced how far the Wings have come as they try to end a playoff drought that dates back 10 years.
“He’s showing he believes in the group and what we’ve done thus far,” Chiarot said. “It’s been a place here where they’ve really been trying to gather prospects, gather picks. And now to see it going the other way, picks going out the door and good players coming in the door. It’s a great sign for what we have accomplished so far. But we need need to pick it up and have better efforts than we did tonight.”
The first of Matthew Tkachuk’s three goals was especially egregious, as he was left all alone in the slot while Chiarot dropped below the goal line in pursuit of Carter Verhaeghe.
“I think it got bumped down behind the goal line,” Chiarot said. “Kind of a 2-on-1 in front of the net, or goal line to in front of the net. Nice pass from below the goal line, just through my feet.”
That was after Michael Rasmussen and Albert Johansson lost a puck battle to Verhaeghe, who hustled to pass the puck to Tkachuk.
“He shouldn’t have that much time and space, so it’s as simple as that,” McLellan said. “We get beat out of the corner, for one, and lose that race and we can’t leave net-front. It’s Hockey 101 – the guy behind the net is not going to score. He’s got to get into a scoring area, so if you do leave you better kill the play.
“It’s a mistake. If we make one of those mistakes a night, we’ve got to be able to score at the other end because we’re not going to be perfect. The number of opportunities we created, in my opinion, there were some real dangerous ones. Pucks squeaking through and good looks, but the goaltender played really well and just didn’t finish.”
The Wings (35-21-7) have put themselves in a good position, where mere .500 hockey should get them to around 96 points and a playoff spot. But they’ve started March 1-1-1 – a tiny sample size, to be sure – and now their captain is hurt. Trade-deadline reinforcements are on the horizon, but there needs to be a reset from within, too.
“It’s up to the group that we have here now to get the job done,” James van Riemsdyk said. “We’re in a great spot right now, and it’s all about the next game and just finding some consistency. That’s all it is this time of year. We just need to continue to play the way we’ve played to get us in this positionand take it one game at a time.”
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dylan Larkin injury update: Red Wings ‘don’t think it’s long-term’
Reporting by Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
