Red Wings 5, Senators 3: Larkin Scores, and the Boos Turn

October 6, 2026 - Detroit - The first shifts were loud in the wrong way. Dylan Larkin had asked out in the summer, given up the C, then missed camp with an upper-body injury. The NHL recap said Little Caesars Arena booed him when he touched the puck. At 13:14 he was alone at the top of the crease, and the sound flipped.

The Detroit Red Wings beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 for their first win. Detroit is 1-2-0. Ottawa is 2-1-0 after a 4-1 win in Boston on Monday. Shots were 36-25 Detroit. Attendance was 17,583.

Alex DeBrincat scored twice and added an assist. Lucas Raymond had three assists. John Gibson stopped 22 of 25. Samuel Ersson stopped 31 of 35.

1-0 Ottawa for 32 seconds

Tim Stützle opened it at 2:44. The NHL recap had him beating Axel Sandin-Pellikka in his own end and using Ben Chiarot as a screen, snap shot past Gibson's blocker. 1-0.

DeBrincat tied it at 3:16 from the bottom of the left circle. Nate Danielson is not seeded on AthX player pages, so that helper stays unlinked. The NHL recap put Danielson's pass from the right side of the crease. 1-1.

Larkin made it 2-1 at 13:14. DeBrincat found Viktor Arvidsson down low. Arvidsson flicked it to Larkin. Larkin told NHL.com he knew the boos were coming and he wanted to help win games with his play.

4-1, then Ottawa climbed

Arvidsson scored on the power play at 2:01 of the second, a rebound of Larkin's shot. Justin Faulk made it 4-1 at 4:30, a wrist shot from the high slot off a stretch pass from William Wallinder. The NHL recap called that Wallinder's first NHL point. Carter Mazur, also a first point, is not seeded.

Drake Batherson cut it to 4-2 at 6:08 on the power play from William Eklund and Carter Yakemchuk. Yakemchuk is not seeded. Eklund scored at 10:30 of the third from a tough angle, the rebound of Fabian Zetterlund off the end boards. 4-3.

Detroit did not panic, coach Todd McLellan told NHL.com. DeBrincat scored into the empty net on the power play at 19:10 from Raymond and Faulk. 5-3.

Ottawa captain Thomas Chabot told NHL.com his club did not play for the first 25 or 27 minutes. Coach Travis Green said they looked a little tired on the second night of a back-to-back. Ridly Greig had an assist in his return from a two-game suspension, the NHL recap said.

The NHL recap noted Stützle had five points (three goals, two assists) across Monday and Tuesday, and that Raymond's point streak against Ottawa is at eight games.

AthX Engine on Detroit's first win

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) scored DeBrincat at 12.30 (two goals, an assist, three shots, one block, a power-play-goal bonus, four PIM). Raymond is 11.60. Larkin is 8.90. Eklund is 8.80. Arvidsson is 8.80. Faulk is 8.30. Gibson's win is 8.20. Ersson is 7.60 in the loss.

Detroit's team line is 20.00. Ottawa's regulation loss is 1.60.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for a Red Wings captain who just scored in the building that booed him, and for a Senators group that had not lost yet. They are not the same number.

Track Larkin, DeBrincat, Stützle, and both clubs on the marketplace.

*Sources: AP recap (ESPN), ESPN box score, NHL.com recap, NHL.com scoreboard. AthX Engine fantasy points scored from NHL gamecenter box 2026020046. Information only; not financial advice.*