Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was removed from Tuesday’s game at Dallas after the second period due to COVID protocol, coach Jeff Blashill said during his postgame address.
Blashill said Larkin would remain in Dallas, unable to travel with the team.
The Red Wings, following a 5-2 loss to the Stars, wrap up this road trip with games in Vegas Thursday and Arizona on Saturday.
Blashill said he doesn’t know what is next for Larkin.
“You go through a sequence of things,” Blashill said. “Right now, he’s out for COVID protocol. I’ll have more update (on Thursday).”
Larkin scored his team’s second goal at 14:39 of the second period to cut the Stars’ lead to 3-2 and had logged 12:25 in ice time before getting word in the second intermission that he could not return.
“Obviously, it was in the middle of the game, which is tough,” Blashill said. “We got to figure out exactly where everything stands, talk to Steve (general manager Yzerman) tonight, tomorrow, and figure out what we’re going to do for Thursday.”
The NHL’s COVID protocol states that “Fully vaccinated players shall be subject to laboratory-based or Point of Care (POC) RT-PCR testing at least every 72 hours, with results available within 24 hours of collection.”
Tyler Bertuzzi, the NHL’s lone unvaccinated player, is subject to daily testing.
It has been a difficult season off the ice for Larkin, who missed the final three games of the previous road trip (Nov. 2-6) due to what he later described as a family emergency.
On the ice, Larkin is well on his way to putting last season’s disappointing production behind him. He has scored five goals in the past five games and has eight goals in 14 games. That is just one goal short of his total in 44 games last season.
Larkin, Bertuzzi and rookie Lucas Raymond have formed a dominant top line, but circumstances have prevented them from being intact all season. Bertuzzi missed three games in Canada due to his inability to cross the border.
