Less than two hours before Monday's puck drop, a mass shooting occurred at the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Mich. And for Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde and his players, the tragic incident "really just puts into perspective so many more things are vitally more important than sport."
"It's gut-wrenching," Lalonde said. "It's sad. My thoughts and prayers out to the community, especially to the families. I have kids that are approaching college age, and it's just heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers out to the entire community."
Larkin also addressed the media postgame, sending his condolences to the entire Spartan community and state of Michigan.
"We dealt with this last year with Oxford," Larkin said. "It just hurts the heart. We feel for everyone involved. I know we had tonight as a win, but it's kind of hard to talk about anything else. We're all thinking about our home state right now."
Larkin found the back of the net twice in the opening frame against Vancouver, becoming the first Detroit skater to score multiple goals in two straight games since Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou both did during the 2018-19 season. The Red Wings also received goals from Robby Fabbri, Gustav Lindstrom, Pius Suter and Jonatan Berggren to help Detroit earn its third straight victory and a season series sweep over the Canucks.
Goalie Ville Husso made 29 saves for Detroit, which improved to 24-20-8 (56 points) overall. With the loss, Vancouver fell to 21-29-4 on the season.
"We are all thinking about that [tragedy that took place at Michigan State University]," Husso said. "But a good game for us today."
NEXT UP: The Red Wings will battle the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday night. Puck drop is set for 9:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m. MT.
