RECAP: Larkin exits with undisclosed injury in Detroit’s 3-1 loss to Florida

DETROIT -- A 3-1 loss to the two-time defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena became a secondary storyline for the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night, as captain Dylan Larkin exited midway through the third period with an undisclosed injury and didn’t return.

“He crumpled up there,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said of Larkin. “He’s in the back. He’ll get checked out. We don’t think it’s going to be long term, but he needs to be looked at. We’ll give you an update when we have it.”

Goalie John Gibson stopped 20 shots for Detroit (35-21-7; 77 points), which earned just one of a possible four points on its brief two-game homestand. Behind a 28-save night from netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida (31-29-3; 65 points) snapped a four-game losing streak.

“For a team that played last night, we should’ve been able to jump on them,” Ben Chiarot said. “They played a pretty sound defensive game. Their goalie gave them some good saves when they needed it. Not the kind of pop that we were looking for coming out of the gate. Not our best effort tonight.”

The Panthers broke the ice when Matthew Tkachuk, who also took home a gold medal with Team USA alongside Larkin at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, was left alone in the slot and one-timed Carter Verhaeghe’s behind-the-goal-line feed into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead at 11:06 of the first period.

“He shouldn’t have that much time and space, so it’s as simple as that,” McLellan said of how Tkachuk scored his first of three goals. “We can’t get beat out of the corner, for one, and lose that race. And we can’t leave net front, so it’s Hockey 101. The guy behind the net isn’t going to score. He’s got to get it into a scoring area, so if you do leave, you better kill the play. It’s a mistake. If we make one of those mistakes a night, we’ve got to be able to score at the other end because we’re not going to be perfect.”

Although the Detroit Tigers don’t kick off their 2026 MLB campaign until later this month, Alex DeBrincat showed off his baseball skills by batting the puck out of mid-air after a shot from Patrick Kane in the high slot bounced off the back glass for a 5-on-3 power-play goal to tie it 1-1 at 10:56 of the second period. Larkin earned the secondary assist on DeBrincat’s third goal in as many games and his team-leading 32nd of the campaign.

Florida opened the third period with 1:02 left on a power play that had carried over from the late stages of the previous stanza, and it retook the lead for good just 35 seconds in as Tkachuk tipped in Sam Reinhart’s shot from the left face-off circle to make it 2-1.

Then, the Panthers’ alternate captain completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:08 for the 3-1 final.

“We showed it in spurts tonight for sure, as far as just playing aggressive, trying to support each other, keep it simple and get some looks,” James van Riemsdyk said. “But again, we just weren’t able to obviously get one by [Bobrovsky].”

Also of note, entering Friday’s Atlantic Division clash, Detroit’s man advantage was converting at 22.5 percent (12th in the NHL) but was 0-for-6 in its last two contests. Against Florida, it went 1-for-4.

“At the end of the game, it’s a couple plays here and there that they capitalized on, and we weren’t able to capitalize on ours, and that’s the difference,” van Riemsdyk said. “That’s how close and how tight it is at this time of the year. Obviously, there’s another day tomorrow and we get to get back at it, have a good practice and then move onto the next game.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will kick off a four-game road trip when they take on the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Sunday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on Friday’s loss

“I thought as the game wore on, we had our fair share of opportunities and chances. Lacked that finishing touch around the net, but I didn’t think we were flat as the game wore on.”

Chiarot on Larkin

“He’s our best player. He’s our captain. He drives a lot of offense for us. Drives the play for us every time he’s out on the ice. Obviously, a really important player for us.”

Chiarot on the moves Detroit made at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline

“It’s been a place here where they’ve really been trying to gather prospects and picks, and now to see it going the other way -- picks going out the door and good players coming in the door -- it’s a great sign for what we’ve accomplished so far. We need to pick it up and have better efforts than what we did tonight.”

Chiarot on playing these types of late-season contests

“It’s a tough time of year to win games. Everyone is scraping and clawing. You got teams that are out of it kind of playing loose and teams right on the line that are in playing playoff-style hockey. It’s playoff-style down the stretch. It’s hard to win and it’s a good thing for us to be playing these types of games, these hard games, leading into April.”

van Riemsdyk on Larkin

“You never like to see a guy like that go down. I don’t know what the full scope of that is, but he’s obviously hugely important in a lot of different areas for our team. So, hopefully it’s not too bad.”