All-Star Blog: Dylan Larkin

Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin kept a blog throughout the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. Representing the Atlantic Division, he played in his second All-Star Game.
In his second entry, Larkin discusses his All-Star experiences, which ended with an 8-5 loss to the Central Division in the second semifinal. Larkin had three shots on goal and was minus-1 in 7:41 of ice time, tied for most on the team with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. He had a breakaway broken up by a backcheck from Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi.

Today was just an incredible day from start to finish. It was a lot of fun to be around these guys. We had a lot of downtime playing the second game, but that was a good thing. Some of the best memories from a day like this are just hanging in the locker room and learning a bit about some of the other guys you don't know all that well.
There were a lot of first-time All-Stars here and I haven't been to many All-Star Games myself, so it was a good chance to get to know some of these guys, like Kirill Kaprizov from the Minnesota Wild. We haven't had a chance to play them yet, but I've watched him a lot and he's pretty skilled and he showed that here over the past two days. So, it was fun to meet him.
As far as the game, it was disappointing to lose.
You know I had a couple of really good chances in the first half. I know I was really pressing to try to get one, but it didn't work out today. I think the goalies did a great job and that was pretty cool for them, I think. We had a lot of chances but couldn't make it happen.
I had a really good chance on a breakaway but Josi poked the puck away on a backcheck, which you rarely see in a game like this. I didn't really say anything to him, just a couple of smiles and laughs on the way back to the bench. I returned the favor to one of their guys later in the game, chasing him down.
I was trying out there. I really wanted to win.
We had a chance right until the end. We pulled the goalie to try to get a couple of goals, and I was out there with some pretty good players for a long shift, and we generated some chances but couldn't capitalize. I think in the regular season, in a situation like that, you will see guys fire the puck, but nobody wants to get hit by a shot here, so it made it a little different and harder.
Now it's time to think about the second half of the regular season. I had a lot of fun here; it was a great weekend of celebrating for me and my family, but now it's time to go home and get ready for the second half.
There's a lot of games coming up pretty quickly, so it's going to be tough. We have a lot of tough matchups coming up, so we have to be ready to go right away.