Notes: Larkin evolving into complete player for Wings

DETROIT -- At 22, center Dylan Larkin is evolving into the player that the Detroit Red Wings hoped he would become when they drafted him in 2014.
Larkin is riding a career-best nine-game point streak with five goals and seven assists in that span.

"It's been an evolution process," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said before Saturday's game against Florida. "His first year was on the wing and kind of scoring, kind of went easy. Then the second year, he had to learn to really make sure that he was playing from the right side of the puck. It was a hard year but that happens when you're learning those lessons. We moved him to center at the end of that year and I thought last year he really became a really good two-way center where he played from the right side of the puck for the most part, where he stopped on pucks, where he cared about his defense a lot. He understood that playing good defense leads to offense, playing good defense leads to winning. It was a good evolution process and he had 60-some points in there.
"The next step now gets harder. And the next step is being able to do the same thing but produce at an even higher level. That's a hard, hard step but he seems to be doing it. The biggest thing I've seen this year is he's controlled the play with the amount he's controlled the puck. He's had the puck on his stick, he's held onto it and made lots of plays. He's kicked and drived on the rush a little bit more, he's held onto it, transported it from end to end and then made a play at the end of that. That's where he's really evolved. I would also say going into this year, power play production was an area that he could easily increase his own production. We've got him to a spot on the power play, the bumper, that I think fits him well and I think he can really learn to be great at it so we're hoping that can continue. We don't draw more than one penalty a game, or power play a game, so hopefully we can draw more than that and he can get more practice at it."
Larkin is second on the team in power-play points with seven, behind co-leaders Dennis Cholowski and Gustav Nyquist, who have eight apiece.
One of the tools Blashill and his staff use to help players is showing them video of players from whom they can learn.
One player that the Wings have shown Larkin is Boston center Patrice Bergeron.
"He's one of the best in the league and a guy who's been a great defensive center but also produces a lot of points and that's what Larks would like to be," Blashill said. "Now he had a great model - two great models here - in (Pavel) Datsyuk and (Henrik) Zetterberg, obviously Zetterberg for longer. Those were sitting right in the room with him and they're great, great models. He understands it, he doesn't do it perfect every time but he understands the premise that you have to check for your chances and you got to play good defense to win and that's where your offense comes from."
HRONEK GAINING TRUST: Rookie defenseman Filip Hronek has been back with the Wings for four games since Mike Green went out with a lower-body injury.
In his first game back, Dec. 14 against the Ottawa Senators, Hronek played 11:51, had one shot and was minus-1.
In his fourth game back, Thursday night in Carolina, Hronek played 18:04, the most since his return.
Hronek had perhaps the play of the game when the puck bounced off of Jonathan Ericsson's skate and went right toward the net.
Hronek arrived in the nick of time, clearing the puck out before it had completely crossed the line.
The young Czech defenseman looks more confident, which is helping him gain even more of the coaches' trust.
"I think Fil's played really well," Blashill said after Thursday's game. "I think he's done a real good job of not giving up much and playing strong. He's very, very strong on his skates and I think he's got pretty good poise under pressure. I think he's done a really good job. He's earning confidence game by game."
PANTHERS IN TOWN: The Wings last saw the Florida Panthers Oct. 20 in Florida, which ended up being the Wings' first victory of the season, 4-3 in overtime.
The Panthers sit last in the Atlantic Division with 32 points but are just three points behind the Wings with three games in hand.
"They're obviously a great rush team," Blashill said. "I think they're fifth in the league in outnumbered rushes for so they've got a real good north game and they're real good in the O-zone. If we play where we're chasing back and we're giving them rushes and we're playing in our end a bunch, that's a recipe for bad things for us.
"The best way to combat that from my perspective is pressure. We got to make sure we're playing in their end as much as we can with great forecheck pressure, with great O-zone, hound-type pressure where if you shoot it, you get it back. Then we got to track and gap real tight and try and end plays early so they don't develop into those rushes. That's easier said than done. Certainly one important factor in that is managing the puck and making sure we get pucks behind. I thought we did an OK job of that as the game went along in Carolina, but it's something we got to do better at."
WEIRD STAT OF THE DAY: The Wings are 17th in the league on the power play at 19.6 percent and 17th on the penalty kill at 78.9 percent.
The odd thing is they're much better on the road on both special teams.
On the road, their power play is fifth at 26.2 percent. At home, their power play is 27th at 14 percent.
On the road, their penalty kill is third at 87.3 percent. At home, their penalty kill is 31st at just 70 percent.
"I can't put a finger on why. We're aware of it," Blashill said. "You ask the question why, I don't know why. Sometimes it's happenstance. Anytime you're in a small sample size, which you're less than 40 games, within that, there's not tons of power plays. It's just the way it's worked out. I'm not necessarily concerned about that, I'm just concerned about executing on it."