Derek Lalonde lays out plan for Red Wings moving forward

The return of Dylan Larkin couldn't come at a better time for the Red Wings, who have been caught in a rut of late after earning only three out of the last possible 12 points up for grabs. 

It was Larkin who landed on Injured Reserve after nearly needing a stretcher to safely make it off the ice earlier this month against the Ottawa Senators in what was one of the more frightening scenes Red Wings fans have seen in recent memory.

Derek Lalonde explained that with Larkin's return, the time is now for the Red Wings to "push" forward after having missed the chance to pick up valuable points in the standings. 

“We got to push,” Lalonde said. “We knew we had this stretch of games circled for a while (and it) was going to be a really tough grind. Everybody has one or two of these on their schedule. It happened to be now for us. Obviously, we’ve let points slip away. We have four games in six days, we got to push. These are very valuable points. No time to feel sorry for ourselves. We got to dig a little bit deeper.”

As far as Larkin's return is concerned, Lalonde acknowledges that it will be a needed "boost", but that it may take a bit of time for him to get back up to speed. 

“It’s a boost but I think it slots people correctly,” he said. “I don’t know if he’ll be at the top of his game like he was before. You saw it with J.T. (Compher) the other night. J.T. was a big boost for us because it slotted the guys correctly, but it takes a little time with NHL pace.”

Tonight also marks the fifth game of veteran David Perron's six-game suspension for his cross check on Ottawa's Artem Zub following Larkin's injury, meaning that he'll soon be eligible to return. 

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