DETROIT — Dylan Larkin returned Sunday and everything was good again in the Red Wings' world.
Larkin was in the lineup, the power play was dangerous, the Wings scored goals, and that ugly four-game winless streak early last week was an ugly memory.
Sunday's 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights was the Wings' second consecutive victory, and was the best all-around game the Wings have played in more than a week.
But the best news of all for the Wings, and their fans, was the return of Larkin.
The Wings captain missed three consecutive games for what the team termed "personal reasons".
Larkin played Oct. 30 in Toronto, the opening game of a four-game trip, but was not on the ice for Monday's practice in Montreal (the Wings had a complete day off that Sunday).
The crowd at Little Caesars Arena roared when seeing Larkin on the ice, and gave a robust cheer when Larkin was announced in the starting lineup.
Blashill said Saturday he'd been in contact with Larkin, but wouldn't get into specifics of the conversations with either Larkin or general manager Steve Yzerman.
“I don’t see any reason to talk about our internal discussions on any of it,” Blashill said after Saturday's morning skate. “I understand it’s hard for you guys (media) not to have answers, but he’s missing for personal reasons and we’ll leave it at that.”
The Wings (6-5-2) were badly missing Larkin as the week went along. The team wasn't scoring, there wasn't a suitable replacement for Larkin on the top line, and the Wings were sorely missing the drive Larkin provides.
"Dylan is an engine for us, Tyler (Bertuzzi) is an engine," Blashill said. "They’re two of our best players. (But) the degree to which you miss guys always depends on the degree to which guys that are in those spots, how good they play."
And the rest of the Wings lineup wasn't playing well.
Until Saturday's dramatic comeback in Buffalo, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime, mainly sparked by Bertuzzi (two goals, plus an assist on Moritz Seider's winner), the Wings were slipping into the losing ways of the last several seasons.
"Confidence is an interesting thing to watch it happen in this league," Blashill said. "It kind of ebbs and flows, and you have to fight through it. Sometimes you just got to dig in, and we dug in at the end (Saturday)."
Said forward Pius Suter: "It goes so quick. In a week, it could be a completely different situation again (with a win streak). We just need (to) stick to what you know."
Lucas Raymond (power play), Robby Fabbri, Pius Suter, Vladislav Namestnikov and Bertuzzi (empty net, team-leading ninth goal) provided Wings goals, while goaltender Thomas Greiss made 38 saves.
Greiss was the key Wing with several huge saves in the closing minutes with Vegas having an extra attacker and putting pressure.
Nicolas Roy opened the scoring for Vegas (6-6), and Jonathan Marchessault added a third-period goal.
Raymond answered, tying the score with his sixth goal at 8 minutes 17 seconds.
Bertuzzi had the puck at the post and fed Raymond across the slot, Raymond one-timing a shot past goalie Laurent Brossoit.
The Wings quickly took the lead for keeps with another power-play goal, this one from Fabbri.
Suter, who has four points in his last two games after totaling two points in his first 11 games, found Fabbri near the dot and Fabbri snapped a quick shot for his third goal.
Suter made it 3-1 at 18:28 of the first period, beating Brossoit high.
“I want to be an overall player,” Suter said late last week. “The production hasn’t been what the team would like it to be. The chances were there. (But) you don’t want to jump too much to offense, because it’s still important that you don’t get scored on and hurt the team.”
Namestnikov's fifth goal extended the Wings' lead to 4-1 at 10:39 of the third period.
Namestnikov took a shot from along the goal line that bounced off Namestnikov's side and into the net.
