Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin blogged throughout the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. Representing the Atlantic Division, he played his second All-Star Game.
In his second entry, Larkin discusses his All-Star experiences, which ended in an 8-5 loss to the Central Division in the second semi-final. Larkin had three shots on goal and posted a minus-1 differential in 7:41 of ice time, tied for most on the team with the Buffalo Sabers defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. He had a breakaway interrupted by a backcheck from the Nashville Predators defender Romain Josi.
Today was an amazing day from start to finish. It was great fun being with these guys. We had a lot of downtime in Game 2, but that was a good thing. Some of the best memories of a day like this are just hanging around the locker room and learning a bit about some of the other guys you don’t know very well.
There were a lot of first-time All-Stars here and I haven’t been to a lot of All-Star Games myself, so it was a good opportunity to get to know some of these guys, like Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild. We haven’t had a chance to play them yet, but I’ve watched him a lot and he’s pretty good and he’s shown it here over the last two days. So it was fun meeting him.
As for the match, it was disappointing to lose.
You know, I had some very good chances in the first half. I know I was really in a rush trying to get one, but it didn’t work out today. I think the keepers did a great job and it was pretty cool for them I think. We had a lot of chances but we couldn’t take them.
I had a really good chance on a breakaway, but Josi pushed the puck on a backcheck, which you rarely see in a game like this. I didn’t really say anything to him, just a few smiles and laughs on the way back to the bench. I returned the favor to one of their guys later in the game, chasing him down.
I was trying there. I really wanted to win.
We had a chance until the end. We took the goalkeeper off to try and get some goals, and I was there with some really good players for a long shift, and we generated a few chances but couldn’t capitalize. I think in the regular season, in a situation like that, you’ll see guys shoot the puck, but nobody wants to be hit by a shot here, so it’s a little different and more difficult.
Now is the time to think about the second half of the regular season. I had a lot of fun here; it was a great party weekend for me and my family, but now it’s time to go home and get ready for the second half.
There are a lot of games coming up pretty quickly, so it’s going to be tough. We have a lot of tough matchups coming up, so we have to be ready to go straight away.
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