The Red Wings beat Blackhawks 4-1 on Thursday night, October 29, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, and the final score only tells part of the story. Viktor Arvidsson scored three goals, Lucas Raymond scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Detroit won its first game since former captain Dylan Larkin was suspended without pay earlier in the day after telling the team he would no longer play for the Red Wings while awaiting a trade.
Detroit trailed early, tied the game in the second period, and then took control in the third. The win improved the Red Wings to 6-4-3, while Chicago fell to 4-9-0 and remained winless on the road at 0-5. For a team that spent the day answering questions about its former captain, the response on the ice was emphatic.
How the Red Wings beat Blackhawks 4-1
Chicago struck first. Six minutes into the game, Connor Bedard scored his third goal of the season, backhanding home a rebound of a Wyatt Kaiser shot, with Roman Kantserov collecting the second assist. Kantserov nearly made it 2-0 later in the period when he hit the goalpost, and Detroit’s first power play, late in the first period, came up empty.
Detroit’s power play kept misfiring early in the second period as well, failing on two more chances in the first five minutes, with Alex DeBrincat hitting the right post on one of them. The breakthrough finally came at 7:31 of the second period, when Arvidsson deflected William Wallinder’s point shot past Spencer Knight, with DeBrincat also assisting. It was Arvidsson’s sixth goal of the season and it tied the game 1-1.
John Gibson kept it tied with the save of the night. Frank Nazar earned a penalty shot at 11:18 of the second period after being hooked by Andreas Englund, but Gibson denied him with a pad save. Gibson finished with 18 saves, while Knight stopped 25 shots for Chicago.
The third period belonged to Detroit. Raymond scored just 1:09 into the period on a power play, after he was the victim of a high stick from former Red Wing Patrick Kane. Raymond flipped in a shot from the right circle, with Moritz Seider and Arvidsson picking up the assists. It was Raymond’s fourth goal of the season, and it gave Detroit a 2-1 lead it would not give up.
Arvidsson finished the job. He converted a rebound of DeBrincat’s shot with 4:34 remaining for a 3-1 lead, then completed his hat trick — the sixth of his career — with an empty-net goal at 16:45 of the third period. The three goals were Arvidsson’s sixth, seventh and eighth of the season, and with his assist on Raymond’s goal he finished with a four-point night. DeBrincat finished with two assists.
Larkin suspended without pay as trade standoff escalates
The game was played against a dramatic backdrop. Earlier Thursday, the Red Wings suspended Larkin without pay after he informed the team he would no longer play for Detroit. Interim general manager Shawn Horcoff said in a statement: “Dylan Larkin has informed us that he will no longer play for the Detroit Red Wings. We are disappointed by his decision, particularly given his obligations to the organization and his teammates. We have therefore suspended Dylan without pay.”
Horcoff added that the team will continue to explore trade opportunities involving Larkin, while noting that any deal needs Larkin’s approval and must be in the best interests of the Red Wings. Larkin’s agent, Pat Brisson, said Thursday that Larkin has “had enough of the situation” and believes he has been professional and cooperative through the process.
The standoff has been building for months. Larkin requested a trade after the 2025-26 season, was stripped of the captaincy on September 11 after holding the role since January 13, 2021, and has since expanded his list of acceptable trade destinations to 10 teams, according to the Detroit Free Press. The 30-year-old, who has spent his entire career with Detroit, has two goals and four assists in 10 games this season and carries an $8.7 million salary cap hit. ESPN reported he will forfeit about $41,000 a day in salary during the suspension. NHL.com noted he has likely played his last game with the team.
Detroit was also short-handed for other reasons on Thursday. Marco Kasper, Mason Appleton and Albert Johansson were sidelined by injuries, leaving the Red Wings to reshuffle lines around Arvidsson, DeBrincat and Raymond — and that reshuffled top group delivered all four goals.
Analysis: what this win does — and does not — change
Analysis: one win does not resolve a franchise-altering standoff, and it would be a mistake to pretend otherwise. What it does show is that Detroit’s remaining core can still produce under difficult circumstances. Arvidsson’s four-point night, Raymond’s timely power-play goal and Gibson’s penalty-shot save were the three moments that decided a game Detroit could easily have lost after falling behind early and missing its first three power plays.
The harder questions remain unanswered. Detroit still needs a resolution at center, still needs a trade return that justifies moving a franchise player, and still needs to show this performance was a starting point rather than an emotional one-night response. Chicago, meanwhile, leaves Detroit still searching for a first road win and still leaning heavily on Bedard for early offense that its defense could not protect.
What to watch next
Detroit hosts the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, October 31, at 1 p.m. ET, its next chance to build on the night the Red Wings beat Blackhawks 4-1. The bigger watch item is off the ice: whether the Larkin suspension accelerates a trade, and what Detroit demands in return. Until a deal is done, every Red Wings game will be played in the shadow of the player who is not there.
Sources: Reuters and Detroit Free Press reporting on the Red Wings-Blackhawks game, and NHL.com and NBC Sports reporting on the Larkin suspension. Related coverage on this site: Bears Trade for Jeffery Simmons in Blockbuster Deal With Titans, Panthers vs Packers Thursday Night Football Preview: Prediction for Week 8 at Lambeau Field, Brewers Beat Rays 4-1 in Game 5 to Win First World Series Title.