Dylan Larkin was fueled by trash talk at the NHL All-Star Game.

If you tuned in to Saturday's National Hockey League All-Star Game then you probably know that, by the end of it all, most everyone was talking about the MVP race that was going on between Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk, and Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.

Both men had outstanding performances in the tournament which is saying something considering that at least some of the players participating in the event did not appear to be interested at all. While you may want to give both Larkin and Tkachuk full credit for at least trying to make things interesting, it sounds like Larkin may have had a little extra added motivation behind his big performance on Saturday.

While Larkin deserves the overwhelming majority, if not all, of the credit for racking up goal after goal on Saturday, he also had a little outside help. Although he would not reveal the source of the trash talk, Larkin informed reporters following the game that someone close to him had criticized him for his performance in the All-Star skills competition the night before.

More specifically, Larkin was accused of not putting in a real effort during the competition, something that clearly motivated him a great deal ahead of the All-Star game itself.

Perhaps the Red Wings should consider bringing this mystery man, or woman, on full time.