Defense Turns to Offense as Red Wings Beat Islanders in Larkin's Return
With the captain back in the lineup, Detroit steadily commanded control over the visiting Islanders for a 6-3 win that casts New York to the fringes of the wild card race
Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports - Defense Turns to Offense as Red Wings Beat Islanders in Larkin's ReturnDetroit, MI—It had to be him. It was neither the opener nor the game-winner, but the Red Wings' third goal was their most important. The one that announced a game that began balanced and defensive now belonged to the home team. The one that kicked the Islanders to the periphery of the Eastern wild card chase. The one that brought Little Caesars Arena to a fervor. And only one player could have scored it.
In his first game after an eight-game absence, Dylan Larkin had a great chance to score in the first—open at the back door with a beckoning net before him—only for the puck to slip beneath his blade. In the second, he had an outstanding look from the slot, but Ilya Sorokin extended his right leg to deny Larkin with his toe.
Instead, the third look was the lucky one for Larkin, and he needed the puck for just an instant to make it count, taking a pass from Alex DeBrincat in the corner and rifling it past Sorokin before he'd finished receiving it. He waved his arms to pump up the crowd then opened them to embrace his teammates, a site they'd sorely missed in his absence.
Thanks to Larkin, Detroit led 3-1 with 1:52 to play in the second, and the crowd chanted his name as play resumed. The two ends of LCA couldn't quite seem to get on the same beat, their chants overlapping instead of in sync, but while it wouldn't be an uneventful run through the game's remaining 21 minutes and 52 seconds, Larkin would eventually clinch the game with an empty-netter for a 6-3 victory. The crowd had a second chance to chant the captain's name, and with the mulligan, the fans found their rhythm.
"You can feel it," said coach Derek Lalonde after the game of the emotional lift his captain provided. "Dylan wanted to play Tuesday and was very disappointed that our athletic training staff was just doing their job. Dylan wanted to play today adamantly, and he didn't get the okay until the afternoon. I myself have not slept a lot in this losing streak. You can see the bags under my eyes; those are real. I always get an afternoon nap just to refresh. I couldn't sleep, and that's the excitement I had with just having Dylan and the opportunity. And I'm sure our guys felt the same."
Larkin himself deferred to a collective effort in his own reflections on the evening's events, saying "Just watching everyone contribute and everyone playing as hard as they could, blocking shots, winning battles, it was exactly what kind of attitude we needed, and I know and guys in that room know we have." And he was right. Though the emotion of the evening swung on an individual, the victory was the product of a collective.
After a tense, tight-checking first period with just 16 combined shots on net, the Red Wings steadily wrested control of the evening's game away from New York. With a patient game, Detroit waited for fissures to emerge in the Islanders' structure and then pounced, building a 5-1 lead that ought to have been 5-0 if not for a disastrous concession from James Reimer on a harmless Mike Reilly wrister from the outer reaches of the offensive zone.
"That team, they're one of the best at clogging up that neutral zone, and then defensively, they have a lot of old veterans that know how to play the game the right way and kinda keep things safe," assessed Christian Fischer, whose line contributed three goals on the evening.
"That was one of our messages going into this game," he continued. "It might be a 1-0, a 2-0. It definitely felt like that after the first...It's pretty simply. We just stick with it, and eventually they're gonna have a breakdown or two. It happens. It happens to every team. You can't play the perfect 60 minutes. I liked the way our team was on top of them tonight. We had a lot of pressure on their D. They have one of the better six guys on the back end there. We stuck with it until the second opens up. Once it opens up, we have so many guys that can score goals and make big plays and contribute. I think that's the good maturity from our group."
"It's unbelievable—just the difference when everyone is slotted where they should be," said Lalonde of the cascading impact of Larkin's return, and with his forward group able to re-assume their proper roles, Detroit played with newfound confidence and command.
The Red Wings didn't balk when Reimer conceded his howler early in the second; instead, they piled two more on before the period concluded and kept adding when the puck dropped on the third. They didn't grow restless as New York attempted to imprint its defensive stamp on the evening; instead, they remained at once patient and aggressive, before taking control.
And, of course, it was Larkin who dealt the decisive blow late in the second to add even more confidence heading into the second intermission, and it was Larkin who clinched the game in the third.
The captain smiled as he confessed that he "was a little bit wired [pre-game], yelling a lot like [Fischer] normally does. Just a little too much pre-workout, but I was excited to get back in. It means a lot to me."
It surely does mean a lot to Larkin, but Thursday's game made clear that it means even more to the rest of the Red Wings' lineup and to the fans chanting his name. Without him, Detroit was listless and overextended. Upon his return, smiles returned to Little Caesars Arena, the confident Red Wings dealt a major blow to the Islanders' fortunes, and Detroit's enthusiasm for the playoff chase has risen from the ashes of eight losses in 10 games.
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