The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a column which discusses Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond’s respectively strong Four Nations Face-Off performances, as well as their importance to the Red Wings’ attempts to make a run for the playoffs:
Red Wings forward J.T. Compher has a long history with Larkin predating their time in Detroit. Back in 2014-15, they were teammates at the University of Michigan and on the U.S. World Junior team that season — which also took place at Bell Centre in Montreal.
“He had a big goal against Canada on New Year’s Eve, and it brought me back to that moment,” Compher said. “Because after that, he kind of took off at Michigan, gained a lot of confidence from that. And he’s been doing it for us all year, and last year, and every night. So to see him come up big in a big moment — we see it all the time. It was good the rest of the league got to see it.”
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And he’s not the only Red Wing who had that kind of tournament. Raymond was one of the youngest players at the event, still a month shy of turning 23. But he ended the tournament tied with Erik Karlsson as Sweden’s leading scorer with 3 points, all assists. His line with Joel Eriksson Ek and (for most of the tournament) Jesper Bratt was the team’s most noticeable and consistent. Swedish legend Peter Forsberg went as far as to say that Raymond had become a superstar, according to Hockeynews.se.
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When both players return to the Detroit lineup Saturday for a matinee against the Minnesota Wild, they’ll be kicking off a home stretch that will decide whether the Red Wings can finally snap the franchise’s eight-year playoff drought.
And after coming within a point of doing so last year — and now seeing two of their stars impress on the big stage over the last week — it’s easy to get excited about what that playoff race could look like in Detroit. If things go according to plan, there could be more big moments to come.
“A lot of guys that were here last year know what shoes we were in,” Detroit forward Joe Veleno said. “And hopefully we can take whatever we could from last year, and learn from it, and bring it into this stretch of the year. I think with Larks and Ray … you see with Ray, becoming a little bit more of a leader and wearing a letter this year on his jersey. And I think Mo (Seider) and a couple of those guys stepping up this year, I think our leadership has grown, and I think we’re all excited here for the stretch.”
Continued (paywall); after Thursday, things will get very busy for the Red Wings. They’ll need the best that Larkin and Raymond can give ’em.
