Dylan Larkin busts open Jonathan Drouin with an open ice hit.

There were plenty of story lines going in to the first round playoff match up between the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning, but not many expected the battle between Red Wings rookie forward Dylan Larkin, and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin, to be one of them.

The two youngsters clashed repeatedly in Game 1 and suddenly it was much more of story line heading in to Game 2, and it did not disappoint. It was Larkin who got the better of Drouin in this instance, delivering a big open ice hit after Drouin made a nice pass down the ice. 

You could argue that the hit from Larkin came in a little late, but Drouin took it in stride and returned to the bench no worse for wear. When the camera zoomed in on Drouin you could see he had been bloodied up a little, but he was seemingly so focused on the game as not to notice.

[pub]