Despite losing a heated matchup at The Horseshoe, Detroit Red Wings star Dylan Larkin issued a very emotional statement about the 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Dylan Larkin, who rose to hockey stardom ... The Red Wings and Blue Jackets enter Saturday's game in a tie for one of the Eastern Conference's wild-card spots. Forecasts call for temperatures ...

With the deadline just days away, that’s what we’re going to look at using the Stanley Cup Checklist. The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn created the Cup Checklist in 2020 to find common elements essential to a team’s success between a decade of champions.

With just over 20 games remaining on most NHL schedules, the pretenders are fading, and the teams genuinely worthy of a ticket to Lord Stanley’s dance are rising, including the Detroit Red Wings. Even if coach Todd McLellan had to call out captain Dylan Larkin.

In eight games in February, Larkin has two goals, three assists and is a minus-6. He is minus-5 in four games since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he played for the United States team that finished second, losing to Canada 3-2 in overtime in the championship game eight days ago.

Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin planted a proverbial flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium like the Michigan Man he is ahead of Saturday's Stadium Series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.