DETROIT – Dylan Larkin’s name would be near the bottom of the list of culprits for the Detroit Red Wings’ struggles offensively and on the power play.

But the captain took one for the team following Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at Little Caesars Arena.

Larkin blamed himself for losing key faceoffs on a power play that went 0 for 5 and for not burying some chances at even strength in a game where his team registered 45 shots on Arvid Soderblom.

“Starts with the faceoff, which I take most of the time, and not winning them,” Larkin said. “And we’re going down 200 feet and that’s on me and got to win the first battle of the two minutes. Last year when we were good (on the power play), this year even when we had it going good we were winning those draws and attacking and getting the kill on their heels.”

The Red Wings (9-7) are 0 for 13 on the man-advantage in their past four games and 1 for 20 during a 1-4-0 stretch.

“We have a good power play, and we have the personnel,” Larkin said. “We showed it not just over a few games, but over years. We just got to figure it out. We got to go over (the boards) with a purpose.”

The Red Wings aren’t producing much five-on-five, either. They have scored two goals in the past three games and six goals in five games.

“I have two back-door (chances) in two nights and zero goals to show for that,” Larkin said. “That’s on me. People look to me to score and look to the big guys to score, and I think I would point the finger at myself and try to put the puck in the back of the net in those key situations and off of good plays.”

Larkin, however, scored the Red Wings’ lone goal, his team-leading ninth – nobody else has more than four – to tie it at 1-1 at 4:19 of the first period.

“That’s noble that Dylan is leading that way and stepping in front of the proverbial bullet,” coach McLellan said. “But you could have lined a bunch of players up tonight and asked them the same question (why they’re not scoring).”

The Red Wings have a mandatory day off Monday before two practice days leading up to Thursday’s home game against Anaheim. They have a lot to do.

“Our power play’s scrambling, our penalty kill needs a polish up,” McLellan said. “Offensively, we need to get polished up, which puts a lot of pressure on us defensively and on the goaltenders.”

The Red Wings ranked fourth on the power play in 2024-25, driven by a top unit that returned intact (Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane and Moritz Seider).

“Every season’s its own. You have to re-establish things,” McLellan said. “You just don’t show up and put your equipment on and say, ‘Hey, we got a good power play.’ Our power play basically from Day1 has been pretty average to this point. We haven’t had a lot of highs yet on it. We’ve scored some important goals, but not near enough.

“So, there’ll be a lot of discussions over the next few days of what we do with the units.”

Nate Danielson, recalled from the Grand Rapids Griffins Saturday to make his NHL debut, was part of a youthful second unit that included Marco Kasper, Emmitt Finnie and Axel Sandin-Pellikka, along with veteran James van Riemsdyk.

“That (second) unit probably had more legitimate opportunities than the first unit, and they don’t get a lot of time,” McLellan said. “Maybe they need more.”

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