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Dylan Larkin and Justin Abdelkader ruin Mike Babcock's return to Detroit

Mike Babcock’s return to Detroit in the regular season as the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs went quite poorly.

The former longtime coach of the Detroit Red Wings saw inspired play by a group he helped grow and develop, and was partially done in by a rookie who never suited up for him.

Dylan Larkin fired a gorgeous coast-to-coast goal and Justin Abdelkader potted a hat trick for the Wings.

The Red Wings honored Babcock with a message on the scoreboard and fans cheered for him during the moment. This made the normally stoic Babcock a little emotional.

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"It was nice of them to do. They sure didn’t have to do that," Babcock said via ESPN.com. "I’ve said it a number of times, I’m glad this is all over to be honest with you. The Leafs played the Red Wings today and they won. It’s that simple."

As for Larkin, it was a stirring debut for a player who is considered the future face of the organization.

When Babcock was considering leaving the Red Wings, he questioned who would replace 37-year-old Pavel Datsyuk and 35-year-old Henrik Zetterberg near the ends of their careers.

For at least this game, Larkin appeared worthy to carry on the Detroit tradition of excellent home grown players.

"It's an incredible feeling just to see it go in and see the Joe go pretty crazy," Larkin said via NHL.com. "Ever since the introduction there, I was kind of feeling the nerves, and to put that one home, I started to feel comfortable and I thought my play started to pick up."

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The game was also the first for Jeff Blashill as Red Wings head coach. He was born in a Detroit suburb and grew up in nearby Sault Ste. Marie. Blashill was previously the coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Red Wings AHL affiliate.

"I said earlier today when the game started it's pretty neat to have an opportunity to be the head coach of the team you grew up cheering for, so I took a moment to certainly enjoy that, but other than that it's been preparation as usual and I'm glad we got two points," Blashill said.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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