The Detroit Red Wings practiced on Monday with Dylan Larkin in the lineup and Marc Staal missing ahead of tomorrow’s game vs. Columbus (and a stretch of 4 games to be played over the course of 6 nights looming on the schedule).
After practice, Dylan Larkin took responsibility for his suspension for punching Mathieu Joseph, and coach Jeff Blashill told the media (via video) that Staal’s status is uncertain, that the Wings are attempting to improve their special teams play, and that Joe Veleno is in Grand Rapids to play the most important minutes he possibly can right now.
All three of the Red Wings’ beat writers took note of Larkin’s remarks regarding his suspension, and the play that led up to it, starting with MLive’s Ansar Khan…
“It was a tough 6-7 months (after the Benn hit), I had some tough nights and I wanted to do something about it so bad, there was so much anger. My buddies asked me to go golfing all summer and I couldn’t golf. I couldn’t go on boats. I don’t want to have a sob story (but) that went through my head quickly. Maybe I thought about if something happens, I’m going to do something about it, but I can’t lash out like that. The one-game suspension was warranted.”
Larkin received a match penalty at 11:40 of the second period, getting ejected from the game and putting the Lightning on a five-minute power play during which they scored twice before going on to win 7-6 in overtime.
“When hits like that happen, you got to do something different to try to fight him or whatever,” Larkin said. “I think I was too aggressive and kind of lost my cool for a split-second, but I was very much disappointed in myself after and disappointed for the team.
“But I also think enough is enough. I’ve been through some tough times. I felt a pain and immediately thought, ‘Here we go again,’ and I got up and reacted, and I dealt with the punishment and I’m very much ready to move on.”
And continuing with the Free Press’s Helene St. James…
Larkin and Joseph have made amends, texting apologies to one another and expressing a wish to put the incident in the past. Larkin was disciplined by the NHL on Friday, and missed Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
“The one-game suspension I think was warranted,” Larkin said. “Hits like that happen, you have to do something different to try and fight him or whatever. It was too aggressive. I lost my cool for a split second.”
Blame it on Jamie Benn: The Dallas Stars captain shoved his stick into Larkin’s spine during a game on April 20, sending Larkin to hospital that night. Larkin spent eight weeks in a cervical hard collar. When Joseph hit Larkin into the boards, it stoked fears of aggravating a neck injury that tormented him through the summer.
“It was a tough six, seven months,” Larkin said. “I had some tough nights, and I wanted to do something about it so bad. There was so much anger. My buddies asked me to golf all summer; I couldn’t go golfing. Couldn’t go on boats.
“I don’t want to have sob story. That went through my head quickly. Maybe I thought about what if something happens, I’m going to do something about it. But I can’t act like that. I can’t lash out like that.”
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…
Larkin felt if there was a penalty called on Joseph, the incident would not have escalated.
“The play is done and the whistle blows,” Larkin said. “I’ve been watching a lot of hockey and there’s a lot of bad hits, questionable hits, and it puts the refs in tough spots. You see a lot of reactions that are not great. I just don’t have the answer for it. We just have to play the game and have to stick up for each other and can’t lose our cool. But we have to stick up for each other.”
Which has been a consistent theme around the Wings after two physical games with Tampa Bay and Vancouver. The Wings have talked about not backing down from the chippiness and standing up for teammates.
“It’s important,” Larkin said. “I feel it in the room with the guys. We’re there for each other. We have each other’s backs. As we’re moving through the first few games, we’re coming together really nice and that’s important. You’re seeing it on the ice, we have each other’s back and we’ll have to continue to do that and we’ll have to continue to get a little smarter and not let it get off our game.
“Enough is enough with teams pushing us around and we have to stand up for ourselves.”
And concluding with the following commentary from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff…
Here’s the problem – by not punishing the offenders of the initial foul, the NHL is leaving the victims with no alternative but to take the law into their own hands. When it comes to biblical phrases, an eye for an eye is much more popular at the rink than turn the other cheek.
The league does have to mete out discipline to combat vigilante justice. However, they look foolish doing so while allowing the original offender to continue to skate free.
“When I talked to my son . . . when he was asking me questions like ‘Why is the punch with a glove on more dangerous than the other one?’ I had to explain to him that it’s not,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said.
Someone needs to be providing that information to the NHL Department of Player Safety, because the players they are supposedly protecting aren’t getting it.
“It’s a dangerous play,” Larkin said, referring to both cheap shots he incurred – the one from Benn and the one from Joseph. “Guys get hurt. I got hurt. I think everyone is on board that something needs to happen. Whether there’s more respect, or a call or a new penalty, I don’t know.”
We’ll wrap things up with this from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, who took note of Staal’s absence from practice:
Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin is a go for Tuesday’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But alternate captain Marc Staal is now a maybe.
“I don’t have an answer on Marc,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “He’s going through some evaluation today. Right now I’m not even sure if we’ll have him back for tomorrow. He could be totally fine and ready to play, or he could come back tomorrow and be out. So we’ll see.”
Staal was recently named an alternate captain. As one of the most competitive players on the Detroit roster, Staal sets a tone for the Red Wings.
Larkin comes back after serving a one-game suspension.Larkin’s return should help the offense, maybe rookie Lucas Raymond in particular. With Larkin gone, Raymond didn’t have as many opportunities.
“Obviously, we’re a better team when (Larkin is) in the lineup,” Blashill said. “It’s important to find ways to win when you’re missing players and we did that. It wasn’t perfect but I thought for two periods we did a good job. We hung on a little too much in the third but those are learning things we have to get better at. We also have some young players in key positions offensively and defensively that have gotta learn.”
Larkin is following the High Standards of most captains. He is so important to the team (on and off the ice), the list is LONG.
Just think we might of got Eichel (how Larkin played with that “All ME Jerk”) before the NHL is beyond me.
Wings couldn’t have done better than having Larkin as a Captain!
I can just picture a two yr old Larkin asking his parents questions they don’t have answers to.