DETROIT — There was a lot going on Thursday in Detroit.

Let’s start where it ended: The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Red Wings 4-1 at Little Caesars Arena in their ugliest performance of the season.

The Hawks fell to 0-5 on the road and 4-9-0 overall and cap their two-game trip against the 9-4-1 Boston Bruins on Saturday in a Halloween matinee. It was their fifth straight game scoring two goals or fewer.

But the chaos of the day started hours earlier when Red Wings coach Todd McLellan announced that center Dylan Larkin would not play.

Larkin had told the Red Wings he no longer wanted to play for the organization and reiterated his trade demand. The team suspended him without pay Thursday, costing him $41,000 per day in salary and drawing ire from Red Wings fans who already were upset with the former captain.

The Hawks then had their morning skate with players’ fathers present. They posed for the dads-trip photo before resuming their hockey drills.

And Thursday night marked Patrick Kane’s first game back in Detroit since signing with the Hawks in the offseason. The right wing played the last three seasons for the Wings, racking up 57 goals and 106 assists in 189 games playing alongside Larkin, for whom he had nothing but praise.

“He’s great, he’s awesome, he was so engaged every game, so intense, wanting to win,” Kane said Tuesday in Chicago. “A lot of pressure on him there within the organization, probably being from there too. I can’t say a bad thing about (Larkin). He’s a special player, a special human. He was great to me when I first came in, and he’s a winner. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him.”

Kane, 37, wasn’t welcomed in the slightest when he returned to his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., to face the Sabres on Oct. 3, but his first game back at Little Caesars Arena was just the opposite.

Kane’s son, Patrick, and Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat’s son, Archie, sounded the horn together before puck drop. Kane and DeBrincat spent eight seasons together — five in Chicago and three in Detroit.

“They’ve always been really good (to) me and my family,” Kane said postgame. “It was cool that they asked them to do that. A lot of friendships made here over the years.”

During a break in the first period, the Red Wings paid a tribute to the NHL great, displaying a video that included a share of accolades and his overtime goal in his first game in Chicago with the Wings.

The crowd gave Kane a standing ovation before play resumed, just as he received in his first visit to the United Center with the Red Wings. It’s unusual to see that kind of love from two fanbases for one player.

“It was a special place for me for a few years, and I really enjoyed my time here,” Kane said. “Great reception, fans have been great to me ever since I came here.”

The Hawks snapped a three-game skid Tuesday and hoped it would carry over to Detroit — the Red Wings were the first of seven consecutive opponents with a winning record. Instead, the Hawks laid an egg, and coach Jeff Blashill was not happy about it.

“We’ve had a lot of games throughout this season where we did a lot of good things and maybe beat ourselves (and made) some critical mistakes,” Blashill said. “Tonight, to me, wasn’t that at all. It’s a step backwards because you just had too many guys that either weren’t skating, didn’t compete hard enough or not enough attention to detail. Tonight wasn’t close.”

Connor Bedard provided the lone Hawks highlight, deflecting Wyatt Kaiser’s shot into the net to open the scoring 5 minutes, 59 seconds into the first period. Bedard has seven points (three goals, four assists) in as many games this season.

The Wings dominated from there, outshooting the Hawks 13-3 in the second. Left wing Viktor Arvidsson’s shot from the blue line tied the game at the 7:31 mark of the period.

Frank Nazar had a prime opportunity to put the Hawks back ahead less than four minutes later — he was given a penalty shot after defenseman Andreas Englund hooked him on a breakaway. But Red Wings goaltender John Gibson denied Nazar and stymied the Hawks the rest of the night.

“I thought the first 10 minutes we were going and could have built off that, but they started taking it to us after that,” Kane said.

One theme in their nine losses: The Hawks have struggled to follow quality first periods with any consistency — shooting droughts, giveaways and opposing breakaways are common occurrences.

“You can use whatever vernacular you want to describe it, but ultimately we’ve got to find a level of consistency that we can roll out for 60 minutes,” Ian Cole said. “Playing 10 minutes or 30 minutes or 58 minutes isn’t good enough in this league.”

The Hawks had six shots in the first 7:38 of the game. They finished with 19 — just 13 over the final 2½ periods.

What can they do to create offense?

“Each guy (needs to) look in the mirror, see what you can do better with the puck, better offensively, shooting-first mentality, just take it upon yourself,” Kane said.

The Red Wings (6-4-3) took the lead on left wing Lucas Raymond’s power-play goal at 1:09 of the third. Arvidsson scored twice more, including an empty-netter, for his sixth career hat trick.

“A lot of us in here, all of us, expected to use Tuesday’s game to springboard us into a string of good play,” Cole said. “It was pretty unfortunate we did what we did tonight.”

Blashill included Anton Frondell among the group that “wasn’t close.” The forward saw only 11:44 of ice time — the second-fewest minutes on the team. Kane and Nazar both had a minus-3 rating.

The Hawks face an ominous upcoming schedule: Their next six opponents are a combined 48-22-10.

“We have not had a good start to the season, and we need to claw our way back into the playoff picture by winning hockey games, winning every game,” Cole said. “We’ve got to make that conscious decision to be better.”

Added Kane: “We’ve had some good moments and some moments just like tonight. You (have to) look internally, look in the mirror (and see) what can you do (to) yourself better to try and help this group along.”