The former captain made his impact known to lead the Red Wings to their first win
The Red Wings troubled offseason started with former captain Dylan Larkin announcing he wanted to be traded. The crowd let him hear loud “boos” when he touched the ice for his first shift.
Larkin remains a Red Wing, he missed the first two games of the season, though he returned tonight to lead the Red Wings to a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators. The Red Wings had not won a game; the Senators had not lost a game.
The Senators took the early 1-0 lead just 2:44 into the game. Tim Stutzle scored on a snapshot from the hashmarks, assisted by Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig.
The Red Wings answered quickly and took control of the game from there.
Alex DeBrincat scored his first goal of the season just :32 seconds later. He put a backhand shot in the net with Senator’s goalie Samuel Ersson out of position on assists from Nate Danielson and Carter Mazur to tie the game. It was Mazur’s first career point.
Larkin turned the jeers into cheers when he scored to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at the 13:14 mark of the first period. The Senators just killed a penalty but still couldn’t regroup and the Red Wings top power play unit was still on the ice. Larkin was alone in front of the net and slid it past Ersson on assists from DeBrincat and Viktor Arvidsson.
Arvidsson and Larkin connected again to give the Wings a 3-1 lead early in the second period on the power play. Lucas Raymond started the play by getting the puck to Larkin in front of the net, Larkin was stopped but Arvidsson was right there to put home the rebound and the Red Wings were leading 3-1 just 2:01 into the middle frame.
Justin Faulk pushed the lead to 4-1 just a few minutes later. He got the puck at center ice and quickly turned into the offensive zone, splitting two Senator defenseman and scoring top shelf. William Wallinder and Lucas Raymond had the assists, it was Faulk’s 500th career point and Wallinder’s first career point.
Drake Batherson brought the lead back to two goals when he scored on the power play for the Senators. He received a nice pass across the slot from Eklund and buried in from in close at the 6:08 mark. Carter Yakemchuk had the secondary assist.
The game got closer midway through the third period. The Senators tilted the ice a bit and the Red Wings couldn’t get off the ice for a change. The Senators got the puck down low and it bounced to William Eklund who banged it in to bring them within one goal. Fabian Zetterlund and Stutzle had the assists.
The Red Wings managed to kill a crucial penalty with just under five minutes remaining, then the Senators took a penalty themselves when they had already pulled their goalie for the extra forward.
DeBrincat scored his second goal of the night on an empty net with under a minute remaining and iced the game for the Red Wings making the score 5-3, and their first win of the young season.
