Notes: Larkin ready for challenge of Oilers' McDavid

EDMONTON -- There are very few players in the league who can keep up with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.
That includes both McDavid's speed and his scoring pace.

McDavid, who just turned 22 on Jan. 13, has 72 points (29 goals, 43 assists) in in 48 games.
Frighteningly, McDavid, who won the scoring race last season with 108 points in 82 games, is ahead of last year's pace at this time.
Before the All-Star break last season, McDavid had 15 goals and 39 assists in 49 games
. "It's similar to the question I got asked on (Calgary's) Johnny Gaudreau and with (Vancouver's Elias) Pettersson and those guys, the superstars," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Obviously he's considered the best of the best probably. Like any other great player, if they don't have the puck and they're playing defense, it's hard to produce points. If a guy like McDavid has the puck on his stick all night, I don't care how good of defense you play, ultimately he's gonna find ways to make plays.
"So the first thing is to make sure that we do a real good job of holding on and keeping the puck in the O-zone, making him play defense as much as possible, frustrating him that way. That's gotta be our No. 1 priority. Obviously, like most great players, the better you can take away their time and space, the less effective they can be. But like I said, the easiest way to play defense is to have the puck in the O-zone."
The Wings have two players with similar speed to McDavid in Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou.
Larkin is likely to see the lion's share of time against McDavid and his line.
"It's a tough job," Larkin said. "He's got so much speed and laterally straight ahead, so you got to try to take away some ice and skate with him. It's a tough job for a lot of guys. you got to be ready. At any moment he can turn around get into his second and third and fourth gear and take off. You got to be above him and always have an eye on him."
When a reporter noted that Larkin had speed to rival McDavid, Larkin demurred.
"I don't know. Not like him. He's up there," Larkin said. "Maybe (I have) just one and two gears. He's got some gears you never seen before. Just skating with him, you try your hardest to have a good gap and stay above him."

Like any competitor, Larkin welcomes the challenge of facing McDavid.
"Any good player that's young like myself, he's a superstar, one of the faces of the NHL," Larkin said. "We don't get to play them a lot and I think last time when they came into (Little Caesars Arena), I wasn't really ready to play against them and he had a big night. I remember that and we need two huge points before we get into our breaks and I expect this to be an intense game."
In his 48 games this season, there have been just seven in which McDavid has been held without a point: Oct. 20 against Nashville, Nov. 6 at Tampa Bay, Nov. 11 against Colorado, Nov. 27 against Dallas, Dec. 18 against St. Louis, Jan. 5 at Los Angeles and Jan. 19 against Calgary.
In the Oilers' 4-3 victory in Detroit on Nov. 3, McDavid had two assists.
Larkin leads the Wings in points with 47 in 50 games and his 20 goals are just three shy of the career-high 23 he had in 80 games as a rookie in the 2015-16 season.
"Every year, it's been interesting to see him take steps," Blashill said. "I think that second year he was in the league he really had to decide he wanted to be that great 200-foot player that any great player is, especially a great player on the team that has a chance to win and he really made a commitment to that and went through some trials and tribulations.
"Now what he's done over the last couple years and into the summer was work at continuing to increase his offensive game. It's been awesome to see. His puck skills and his shot and all those things have just continued to get better because he works at them. He's got unreal inner drive and he's just continued to work, so he's continued to push his ceiling up. How much more can it go? I wouldn't doubt him for a second. I think he'll continue to work to push it up as high as possible."
BOTH TEAMS NEED A WIN: The Wings and the Oilers have both lost their last two games and are looking for a victory as they head into the All-Star break.
"I just think right now we're in a spot where every game is critical," Blashill said. "That's where the league is. The fact we have a break coming. The only thing I'd say to that is there's no excuse for not having an unreal effort. Let's have a great effort and go on break with a win."

After two victories, one on the road in Minnesota and at home against Anaheim, the Wings lost 6-4 Friday night in Calgary and 3-2 Sunday afternoon in Vancouver, both games in which they had a lead.
"We've been doing that a lot lately," Larkin said. "We've been getting off to good starts and playing well for 40 minutes and in the third we're finding ways to lose games and tonight we can't do that. We have to play 60 minutes where we're aware of what's going on defensively and make adjustments to what they're doing. They have a lot of weapons, so we have to be ready for 60 minutes."
Despite going 3-6-1 in their last 10, the Wings have not played poorly overall.
"I said to the guys, we've done a good job," Blashill said. "Over the last 10 games we've out-chanced our opponents in eight of those 10 games. We've played good hockey, we've been a good team that's found a way to lose. We've got to find a way to be a better team that finds a way to win. No. 1 is you gotta stay on it. Similar effort. If we go out and work with the same mentality that we had both in Calgary really and in Van(couver), and that we've had lots over the last number of weeks, good for us.
"If we don't go out and work like dogs, then shame on us. We've got that opportunity ahead of us again today. We've done a good job of having a short memory, of worrying about getting better today and focusing on the game ahead of us and that's what we've got."
LINEUP LIKELY TO BE ALMOST THE SAME: Blashill said everyone who played Sunday in Vancouver is available, including Luke Glendening, who left briefly after blocking a shot.
The Wings held Glendening out of practice Monday but he participated in the optional morning skate Tuesday.

Rookie defenseman Filip Hronek, who replaced fellow rookie Dennis Cholowski in the lineup Sunday, said he will play once again with Jonathan Ericsson.
Jimmy Howard was the first goaltender off the ice Tuesday, indicating he will start. Jonathan Bernier started Sunday.
In 18 career games against the Oilers, Howard is 13-3-2 with a 2.12 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.
Mikko Koskinen, who signed a three-year contract extension Monday, will start for the Oilers.