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The Red Wings face their biggest game of the season, is it must win?
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00:00All right, so biggest Red Wing game of the season tonight.
00:04Ottawa's one point back at Detroit.
00:06Detroit's on the outside looking in.
00:08Ottawa played last night in New York, and while they won,
00:11they lost two blue liners to injury.
00:13Tom Chabot on a hit from J.T. Miller and Lassie Thompson,
00:15who just got back in the lineup for them, and now he's out.
00:18They don't have Jake Sanderson.
00:21Reimer was in net last night, so we will get Linus Allmark tonight.
00:25Red Wings' Dylan Larkin.
00:26There's a report this morning he was on the ice, is that correct?
00:31Yeah, he was on the ice for the game day skate,
00:33but he's still a game-time decision.
00:36Okay, I'll start with Ottawa.
00:39LCA should be on fire tonight.
00:40This is a huge game.
00:42The implications, the stakes, and the opponent.
00:45They've come across the Senators in March quite a bit the last four seasons.
00:52Do you know how many times they've beaten them in March and beyond?
00:57Well, I remember the one year, it was two games they lost.
01:00So that happened to be, and I will credit those to March,
01:02because that was February 27th to February 28th,
01:05and it was right before the trade deadline.
01:06They lost both those.
01:07They went 0-2 against Ottawa in March last year.
01:10The year before the back-to-back losses to Ottawa,
01:13they went 0-3 in March and April against Ottawa.
01:17Ottawa has as much to do with these March collapses as anybody.
01:21They have swept the Red Wings.
01:23They have swept the Red Wings in three of the last four years,
01:26one of the years they didn't play in March or beyond.
01:30F these guys.
01:32Right?
01:34And, like, this should be, this is the get-right moment.
01:38And I'm going to say something.
01:39You tell me if this is accurate.
01:43I think Dillon Larkin, USA Hockey Dillon Larkin,
01:48impresses me more than Red Wing Dillon Larkin.
01:53And it's time for USA Hockey Dillon Larkin to hit the ice tonight.
01:58And maybe it's because the games mean so much in the Olympics
02:02and everything feels like it's a do-or-die game
02:04that I notice all the little things more.
02:08Am I wrong on that?
02:11No.
02:11I think, you know, in the Four Nations Cup,
02:14everything was amped up so high.
02:16And, obviously, Olympics get to that level, too.
02:19I think it's something else when, you know, keep in mind,
02:22he was low on the totem pole with those teams, right?
02:25He was a fourth-line player, but he wanted to play more.
02:29And if you're going to play more, you've got to do everything well.
02:30And he did everything well.
02:32And you're playing with, you know, all-star players all throughout the lineup.
02:36So, everything elevates your game.
02:39And he's – so, this tells me the Red Wings just need to get more all-stars.
02:45Get more all-star caliber players, and you'll get even more out of Dillon Larkin.
02:49Larkin's a hell of a player.
02:50And I think the stuff he does for this team goes unnoticed.
02:55His ability to win a face-off goes kind of unnoticed.
02:58His desire to be a two-way player, a 200-foot ice player,
03:04to play defense as well as offense, I think goes unappreciated at times.
03:09And because he's the captain of this team, a lot is on his shoulders,
03:13and rightfully so.
03:16But it's like the success and the failure of this team,
03:18more so the failure of this team, is going to be directed at him
03:21and the general manager.
03:22Because you've got to find some player to be upset with,
03:24well, pick the captain and pick the general manager.
03:29Kenny, tell me I'm wrong.
03:31Tell me USA Hockey Dillon Larkin isn't any better than Red Wings Dillon Larkin.
03:35I just see it that way.
03:36Well, two things can be true at once, Doug.
03:38I think one is that if you surround somebody with that caliber of talent,
03:42they're always going to look better.
03:44I think that has to be acknowledged.
03:46But also what has to be acknowledged is Dillon Larkin does have the ability
03:49to go to the next gear.
03:50He has that in him.
03:52So you are right.
03:53He is better when he is in that situation.
03:55But he does also has that next gear where he could actually not just improve
04:00this team and not just make us better, but he could be playoff Dillon Larkin,
04:05the guy that we expect.
04:06So there's a few layers to Dillon Larkin too, right?
04:09Because I think Dillon Larkin has grown into the leadership role where last year
04:12when the season ended, he sat down and said, yeah, we were disappointed
04:16when our roster wasn't given some gas at the trade deadline.
04:20Which I think is a young player growing into what it means to be a leader
04:25and a captain in this league.
04:27And it's okay.
04:28I'm not mad at him for it.
04:29But this year, Eisenman did give them gas.
04:33He gave him a solid player in Justin Falk.
04:35And now it's time for Dillon Larkin to show that, yeah, you showed that faith in us.
04:42And now I'm going to go bonkers in this last couple of weeks and make sure that this team's
04:47in the postseason.
04:48And I'm not mad at him.
04:49I don't want to come across as I'm mad at him.
04:51But now is the time, right?
04:53This is everything that we've been building and the failures and the getting a little closer
04:59and adding this guy and adding that guy and holding on to your Simon Edmondson's
05:04and adding, you know, players that help you, whether it be a Perron or, you know, whomever.
05:13And here they sit with this hugely critical game.
05:17I just, and Larkin skated this morning, right?
05:20So it was Larkin.
05:22I went through a full practice the other day.
05:24Yeah.
05:24So Larkin's, we're thinking he's going to play tonight?
05:28My gut tells me he's going to play tonight.
05:29Then let's, let's blank and go.
05:31Yeah.
05:32The, the only apprehension that I would have is that I want to make sure you're absolutely
05:37ready to go.
05:38You got to be a hundred percent or as close to this because, okay, this is a very important
05:43game for this team tonight, but they're also going to have 11 more really important games
05:47the rest of the season.
05:48So which is, which is going to put you in a better position if you hit the ground running
05:52tonight, or do we give you another night's rest and you come back in the next game?
05:56Um, but whatever decision they made is going to be what's best for the team.
05:59So I'll, I'll trust it, but I looking forward to getting him back because he absolutely makes
06:03this team better.
06:04I mean, he is their captain.
06:06He's one of their best players.
06:08He's capable of being their best player.
06:10I mean, he's carried this team at times, so I want to get him back.
06:14I think it's important when you look at the 12 games left, there's what a half dozen teams
06:20or seven teams are within three points of each other.
06:23It's not just, this is a conversation we have in Detroit.
06:26It's all doom and gloom because of what's happened the last few, few marches.
06:30And I get that, but this conversation is probably being had in six other cities about, Hey, do
06:38you see that we could be in and in or out of the playoffs?
06:41Yeah.
06:42But right now the Red Wings happen to be out and, and they have to fight their way back
06:46in, but they've got 12 games to do it.
06:49And these other teams are going to have to do a lot more infighting than the Red Wings
06:52will.
06:53What do you mean by that?
06:54They've got harder schedules to go.
06:56They're going to have to face the tougher teams.
06:58Okay.
06:59Now they're going to have to play the Carolinas and the Buffaloes and the, uh, the, the
07:03Tampas of the Eastern conference.
07:05Whereas the Red Wings don't have to do that as much.
07:08As far as Larkin's concerned, I guess the bottom line of what I'm saying is I expect
07:14Dylan Larkin to lead this team to the post season.
07:19I expect it.
07:20I think he's, I think this is the time that he really cements himself in making the playoffs
07:28doesn't cement you in lore it's, but it cements you as a, as a, as a guy that Detroit can
07:34count on.
07:35And yes, they still need more, right?
07:37I still don't look at this roster and say Stanley cup favorite, but I think this is, this
07:41is an important time.
07:43And I think he's going to come through.
07:44What they need out of him is more than they got out of him last year after the four nations
07:49cup.
07:49He wasn't right after that, right?
07:51He got banged up in the four nations cup and played through the rest of the season and
07:54he wasn't right.
07:56They need him to be, if he goes tonight or if it's the next game, whatever it is for
08:00the last 11, 12 games, he has got to be better than what he was a year ago at this
08:05time when
08:06he was clearly going through something where you want to know it.
08:08We know he's going through something now, right?
08:10He missed, he missed a couple of two and a half weeks of playing time.
08:14But they need Dylan Larkin to be as close to a hundred percent as possible.
08:18I got the Red Wings three of the last four years.
08:21They've played Ottawa, but two after February 27th.
08:24Okay.
08:24So the bulk of that time is the month of March and they're Oh, an eight in those
08:29games, Oh, an eight against the senators when this, when the, when the playoff
08:35collapses have taken place, it's these guys fault.
08:38Okay.
08:39As much.
08:40And I'm not look, it's really the Red Wings fault, but I'm talking about the
08:43pregame locker room speech.
08:45I'm talking about making sure that tonight is the game seven effort.
08:52Like it's these guys, it's these MFers that have kept the Red Wings out as much as
08:59anybody.
08:59Yeah.
09:00And Ottawa was a hot team right now.
09:02Ottawa's eight and two in their last 10 games.
09:04The Red Wings are four, four and two in their last 10 games.
09:06You know, they're all these teams that are, they're hot at the right time.
09:09Columbus is six, one and three in their last 10 games.
09:12That's why they found themselves in a playoff.
09:14Um, but then you've got teams that are also kind of 500 or slightly better.
09:19Montreal five, four and one.
09:21Are they playing the greatest hockey right now?
09:23No, the Red Wings beat them last time they played.
09:25Uh, you look at Boston, they're five, two and three, which actually it's, it's quite a
09:29bit better there.
09:30You worry about Boston and, um, and yet that's a team that you're just two points
09:34behind.
09:34That's why the other, the loss the other night was so damn frustrating.
09:37The Islanders are five and five in our last 10 games.
09:40You know, the, the, the Flyers are seven, two and one in their last 10 games.
09:44These are the teams that are kind of in it right now.
09:47You know, Flyers a little bit further away, but they're not that far away.
09:50They've got 80 points on the season.
09:52Every game is vitally important.
09:54The rest of the way feedback, two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
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10:12can watch the program.
10:12It's Carson Anderson, huge Red Wing game tonight.
10:15Red Wing fans is larking the guy that leads them to this post season.
10:20And God, how much do we hate the senators?
10:23Yeah.
10:24He's blanking guys.
10:2597.
10:26One.