What a night for the Detroit Red Wings.
There was a time late in the second period Sunday at Scotiabank Arena when four of their most recent top first-round picks were scrumming with the Toronto Maple Leafs, shoving and jawing with divisional rivals. An older first-round pick, Dylan Larkin, scored a hat trick en route to a 5-2 celebration.
Even with their third victory over the past four games, the Wings (34-33-9) stayed among the bottom 11 teams in the standings, which is the cutoff to be eligible to move up to No. 1 overall via the draft lottery.
Marco Kasper, the No. 8 overall pick in 2022, made his NHL debut, two weeks after Simon Edvinsson, the No. 6 overall pick in 2021, made his. While they’re getting a taste of what it takes to play in the NHL, two prior top picks already are established: Moritz Seider, drafted No. 6 overall in 2019 and Lucas Raymond, drafted No. 4 overall in 2020. All were selected by general manager Steve Yzerman.
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Kasper is the first Wings 18-year-old skater to debut since Martin Lapointe in 1991.
The Wings looked energized as they took on a fourth straight opponent fighting for playoff positioning. Defenseman Olli Määttä contributed a goal and an assist in the first period. Larkin’s 29th goal of the season pushed him to a personal-best 74 points in one season. Larkin reached 30 goals when he connected on Ben Chiarot’s shot midway through the third period, then scored again with 2.:12 to play on an empty-net goal.
It was the second game in two nights for the Leafs, who beat the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, banking two key points to try to gain against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the race for second place in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in the first round.
Kasper’s place
The Wings wasted no time getting Kasper into the lineup after recalling him from Sweden following Rögle’s elimination from the playoffs. His call-up was announced late Thursday, just in time for him to fly with the Wings to Winnipeg, where they played Friday. He took part in the warmups that night. The team had a scheduled day off Saturday,…