| Detroit Free Press
How Dylan Larkin rated himself in 7-3 Red Wings loss at Dallas: “Lousy as a leader”
Dylan Larkin interview following Red Wings’ 7-3 loss at Dallas. Jan. 28, 2021.
Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press
We just couldn’t help ourselves.
We know we’re only three weeks into the 2021 season and even though it’s only 17 weeks long – give or take a couple of weeks of makeup games the way this division is trending — it’s way too early to scan that page.
After all, half the division is coming up on the quarter-season mark this week, while three teams just started counting their games on their second hand. (And the Predators, in most-Predator fashion, are in the middle, with eight games played.)
But still, we did it. We looked at the NHL Central Division standings. It’s February, for (Peterborough) Petes’ sake! And boy, are there some surprises.
Hey! It’s the Florida Panthers at the top, with 11 points in six games! The Panthers haven’t won a division since 2015-16, which doesn’t feel like that long ago until you realize the Detroit Red Wings were a playoff team that year, and Panthers coach Gerard Gallant was still a few months from having to hail his own cab, post-firing.
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And there in the middle! It’s our 2020 Stanley Cup finalist Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, drafting behind the leaders for now with nine points in six games. We’re sure they’ll pick up the pace when they finally play each other starting in <checks notes> mid-February. Thanks to Dallas’ COVID-19 pause to open the season, they’ll face off eight times in just 42 games. (Don’t fret too much for the Bolts; they still have all eight games left against the Red Wings.)
And, hey, speaking of the Wings, there they are in, yep, last place. That’s about what we expected from a team whose most on-brand highlight this week was losing goalie Jonathan Bernier to injury when he, Anthony Mantha and the puck all ended up inside the net, though not in that order. (Pro tip: For best results, keep all goalies, forwards AND pucks outside of the net at all times.)
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But while we’re figuring out just how many players we can fit in a regulation net, let’s run through the division’s Misery Index in Week 3, from the least miserable to the most:
8. Hurricanes
This week’s record, goal differential: 3-0-0, +5.
Last week’s ranking: 3.
Just getting back on the ice was reason enough to celebrate for the Canes after a week and a half of COVID-19 limbo? And then they went undefeated against, yep, both 2020 Stanley Cup finalists, just as we all had penciled in? OK. A special shoutout to goalie James Reimer, who ended up playing a little over 122 minutes in less than 24 hours against Dallas over the weekend (with two wins, no less), for the line of the week: “Well, I should be rested after nine days off.”
7. Panthers
This week’s record, goal differential: 3-0-1, +2.
Last week’s ranking: 4.
Not only are the Panthers tied for the most wins in the division with five, it’s the best six-game start in franchise history, topping four previous four-win efforts. Consider this: The last time the Panthers even started with four wins in six games, some guy named Urban Meyer was in his first season coaching in Gainesville, about 300 miles north of Sunrise. And now, some guy named Urban Meyer is coming up on his first season coaching in Jacksonville … about 300 miles north of Sunrise. The more things change…
MISERY INDEX FLASHBACKS
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WEEK 2: It’s not a rivalry until you start talking cat urine
6. Lightning
This week’s record, goal differential: 1-0-1, 0.
Last week’s ranking: 5.
Think goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is happy to see backup Curtis McElhinney return from two weeks in COVID-19 protocol? Vasilevskiy has logged 362 minutes over six games, and the big Russian is the only goalie this season to play every minute for their team. (Edmonton’s Mikko Koskinen started Edmonton’s first 10 games, playing 592 minutes. His backup gave up five goals to Ottawa on Sunday, so Koskinen might not get many more days off.) Oh, and Vasilevskiy has started 32 straight games for the Bolts, including all of last year’s Cup run; his last game off came March 8 against the Red Wings (who come to town Wednesday, hint hint, coach Jon Cooper).
5. Predators
This week’s record, goal differential: 2-0-1, +1.
Last week’s ranking: 1.
The good news: Thanks to two wins over the Blackhawks, the Preds are 4-1 this season against teams that didn’t make the Stanley Cup Final last year. The bad news: They’re 0-3 against the teams that did. The worse news: They play the teams that did another 13 times this season. We call that “Jim Harbaughing,” and recommend a move to the Big Ten West as soon as possible.
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4. Stars
This week’s record, goal differential: 2-1-1, +1.
Last week’s ranking: 8.
Dropping two games in 24 hours to the Canes — including one stinker in which they managed only 11 shots on goal — could have landed the Stars further down this list, but before they did that, they debuted their “Blackout” third jerseys (or sweaters, if you insist) Thursday against the Red Wings. The kit features ultra-neon green logos and outlined lettering on a jet-black background and, well, they just look cool. There’s a reason why they got their own hype video from Fox Sports Southwest, especially since neon green can be a tricky look to pull off. (Right, Michigan State Spartans?)
Oh, and also, they scored seven goals while wearing them. That’s cool, too.
3. Blue Jackets
This week’s record, goal differential: 2-1-1, -1.
Last week’s ranking: 7.
We know he’s in Heartbreak Hotel right now, so with a reminder to Don’t Be Cruel, we’ll offer A Little Less Conversation about goalie Elvis Merzlikins’ issues Sunday against the Blackhawks. Anyway, the second-year Latvian goalie surrendered two goals in the third period while playing the puck outside the crease. Just before the eight-minute mark, he unleashed a holy roller that Pius Suter marked “Return to Sender” for a go-ahead score. Then, about six minutes later, he was All Shook Up on a giveaway to Philipp Kurashev, who fed Patrick Kane for Chicago’s final goal.
OK, now that we’ve (mostly) got the Elvis puns out of our system, we’re sure Merzlikins had an explanation: “I’m not going to go into excuses, but the luck wasn’t on my side this time. The puck got stuck on the board, I shoot it on the backhand. But goalies aren’t that good on the backhand, so maybe I shouldn’t shoot maybe on the backhand. I should shoot on the forehand. I mess up not once, but twice. The team doesn’t deserve this.”
Thankyew, thankyew vurry much.
2. Blackhawks
This week’s record, goal differential: 1-1-2, -1.
Last week’s ranking: 6.
We knew Suter had a shot at leading all rookies in goals. The Swiss forward led his homeland’s top league in scoring last season en route to the MVP trophy. The previous guy to do that in the Swiss League — Dominik Kubalik — led all NHL rookies in goals last season. And sure enough, there’s Suter atop this year’s Calder leaderboard. But the way Suter’s doing it … all four of his goals have come on Sunday (and yes, we’re counting that gift from Elvis). Then again, you’d kinda expect a guy who shares a name with a dozen popes to do his best work on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you?
(And no, we couldn’t find what days ex-L.A. Kings winger John Paul Kelly scored his 54 career goals on.)
1. Red Wings
This week’s record, goal differential: 0-2-2, -7.
Last week’s ranking: 2.
And, finally, we have the only team to go winless in the division this week. The bar is set pretty low for improving on last season; they only have to average three points per week to finish with 51 points in 56 games, or 12 more than they picked up in 71 games last year. Unfortunately, they’re averaging a cool two per week this season. Likewise, it hasn’t gotten much better from week to week: The Wings held a lead for 27:48 of ice time this week, down from 28:36 last week.
Maybe they need some neon sweaters, eh?
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.