Detroit Red Wings' Derek Lalonde praises refs for handling Dylan Larkin's 'scary' incident

Dylan Larkin was still being evaluated when the Detroit Red Wings were done playing Saturday.

The Wings captain's injury in the first period rattled teammates, even as they tried to recover and refocus.

"It’s scary for everybody in the rink when you see somebody unconscious," Ben Chiarot said after the 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. "Hard to watch, especially when it’s your friend and captain. Scary for his family when you see someone down like that. A lot of different emotions."

Coach Derek Lalonde did not have an update and said he had not had a chance to talk to Larkin personally.

"It was a really scary situation of him being knocked out, then leaving on his own feet," Lalonde said.

THE GAME: Patrick Kane scores 1st, but Red Wings lose Dylan Larkin, game (5-1) to Senators

Larkin was injured with 6:10 to play in the first period. During a battle in front of Ottawa's net, Senators forward Mathieu Joseph punched Larkin in the back of the head, sending him into Ottawa forward Parker Kelly, who cross-checked Larkin in the process.

Larkin laidbmotionless on the ice for several minutes while being tended to by medical personnel. After Larkin went down, David Perron went after Senators defenseman Artem Zub, delivering a reckless cross-check that flattened him.

Officials doled out roughing calls on Joseph and Kelly, while assessing Perron a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct for intent to injure.

Larkin eventually rose to his feet to skate off, avoiding the use of the stretcher that had been brought out.

"It’s a really tough look seeing him passed out on the ice, unconscious," Lalonde said. "The refs probably did the right thing in taking the 5-minute call in order to be able to review it and communicate extremely well. They probably did a really good job with that situation, all considering.

"He called the original 5, they’re allowed to review it. He had exactly what he called — two hits to the head, high-sticks on them, and DP with the five-minute major. So again, I thought considering the circumstances, I thought both refs handled it extremely well, communicated well, and we moved on from it."

Officials spent several minutes reviewing what had happened, eventually sending Joseph and Kelly to the penalty box, while the Wings finished off an earlier penalty and then served the minutes earned by Perron in what turned into an extended shorthanded session.

"I know they looked at, but how we ended up with a three-minute kill at the end of that whole ordeal, I don’t think any of us would have expected that," Christian Fischer said. "It was just a chaotic game. Tough loss."

Losing Larkin and Perron left the Wings with nine forwards.

Patrick Kane scored roughly a minute after the injury, making it 1-1. But the Senators scored their second power play goal early in the second period, while Michael Rasmussen was in the box, and scored again a minute after the Wings had killed off a penalty on Jake Walman.

"We scored, we ended up getting out of the period 1-1, through all of it," Lalonde said. "What really stung was us being down to nine forwards and taking two penalties to start the second, kind of changed the whole complexion of the game.

"I give those nine forwards credit, especially in the third, to keep competing. We’re down three goals and it’s a very emotional situation. They gave us looks. We had a chance."

Fischer challenged Joseph to fight in the third period, landing several blows.

"I think all 21 guys would have done the same thing in our room," Fischer said. "Obviously wanted to wait a second there — we had nine forwards. There was probably multiple opportunities to do that earlier, but didn’t want to go down to (eight) forwards.

Lalonde said he appreciated Fischer fighting: "He’s doing that for his teammates. I even appreciate Mathieu Joseph understandably taking the fight, too."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings: 'Really scary' to see Dylan Larkin unconscious