Larkin's tiebreaking goal in 3rd period sends Red Wings to 4-2 win over Sharks

DETROIT (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the surging Detroit Red Wings beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Friday night.

Marco Kasper scored his first goal in 37 games and added an assist to help Detroit win for the fifth time in six games. Alex DeBrincat scored his team-high 25th goal and J.T. Compher had the other goal for the Red Wings.

Lucas Raymond had three assists and James van Riemsdyk added two. John Gibson made 20 saves.

Will Smith scored for San Jose in his return from an upper-body injury that cost him 13 games. Collin Graf had the other Sharks goal and Macklin Celebrini, the NHL's third-leading scorer with 72 points, added an assist. Celebrini has 32 points in his last 18 games.

Yaroslav Askarov stopped 21 shots for the Sharks, who had won seven of nine.

Detroit converted on its first power play when Raymond set up DeBrincat, who ripped a one-timer from the left circle into the net.

Smith tied it midway through the first period after Celebrini's shot from the high slot tumbled over Gibson and rolled toward the goal line. Smith tucked the puck into the net.

Graf tipped in a pass from Nick Leddy at 1:58 of the second to give the Sharks the lead. Kasper's pass through the legs of a defender set up Compher's goal five minutes later, tying it 2-all.

Larkin jammed the puck between the post and Askarov's pad at 4:41 of the third to give the Red Wings a 3-2 advantage. Kasper ended his scoring drought on an empty-netter with 1:32 remaining.

Sharks: Visit the Florida Panthers on Monday.

Red Wings: Host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

San Jose Sharks center Will Smith (2) celebrates with defenseman Dmitry Orlov (9), left wing Pavol Regenda (84) and center MacKlin Celebrini (71) after scoring against Detroit Red Wings goaltender John Gibson (36) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Detroit Red Wings center Marco Kasper (92) celebrates with left wing Lucas Raymond, center, and center Dylan Larkin, right, after Kasper's open-net goal against the San Jose Sharks during the third period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

San Jose Sharks left wing William Eklund (72) skates off the ice as Detroit Red Wings players celebrate their win after an NHL hockey game Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) shoots on goal against San Jose Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov (9) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat, left, celebrates with center Dylan Larkin, center, and left wing James van Riemsdyk after scoring against the San Jose Sharks during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Catholic priests in Rhode Island preyed on hundreds of children for decades, getting away with sexual abuse largely due to a system where bishops prioritized minimizing scandal as the diocese maintained a secret archive to conceal the revelation of more victims.

These findings were among the many sobering details released Wednesday as part of a multiyear investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, led by Attorney General Peter Neronha.

The report was designed to spark a “full reckoning” of the abuse that had long remained elusive inside the smallest state in the U.S., home to the country’s largest Catholic population per capita, with nearly 40% of the state identifying as Catholic. Neronha, himself a Catholic, sided with the victims who have argued that not enough has yet been done to address the problem, more than two decades after it was widely exposed in the nearby Boston diocese.

“Not until now has there been a comprehensive review of this painful chapter in our state’s history, with a view toward offering transparency, accountability, and systemic reforms that will, I hope, lessen the likelihood of future child sexual abuse, not just within the Diocese of Providence, but in our community as a whole,” Neronha wrote in the report.

The investigation found that 75 Catholic clergy molested more than 300 victims since 1950, but officials stressed that the number of victimized children and abusive priests is likely much higher.

The diocesan records, described as “damning” in the report, revealed that the diocese often transferred accused priests to new assignments without thoroughly investigating complaints or contacting law enforcement.

This includes the Diocese of Providence opening a “spiritual retreat-style facility” in the early 1950s, where several accused priests were sent for treatmentwith the goal of returning to work. This practice evolved into sending accused priests to more formal “treatment centers” after determining clergy abuse may be a mental health problem.

The report said the diocese’s “overreliance and misplaced faith” in the treatment centers was at best “absurdly pollyannaish.”

By the 1990s, accused priests were sometimes placed on sabbatical leave.

For example, the report says priest Robert Carpentier was accused in 1992 of sexual abuse by the family of a 13-year-old victim. Carpentier confirmed the abuse took place in the 1970s and resigned.

Carpentier was sent to a treatment center in Connecticut and eventually went on sabbatical at Boston College. He remained on a “leave of absence” until his official retirement in 2006 and received support from the diocese until he died in 2012.

Overall, the majority of cases involving accused priests avoided accountability from both law enforcement and the diocese.

Neronha said his office has charged four current and former priests for sexual abuse they allegedly committed while serving in the diocese between 2020 and 2022. Three of those priests are still awaiting trial. The fourth priest died after being deemed incompetent to stand trial in 2022.

In total, only 20, or about 26% of the clergy identified in the report, ever faced criminal charges, and just 14 clergy were convicted. A dozen accused clergy were laicized or dismissed from the clerical state.

One survivor in the report shared that he was groomed before he was sexually abused by Monsignor John Allard, who served at Immaculate Conception Church in Cranston in 1981.

The survivor, who is not named in the report, said Allard gave him attention and physical affection between seventh and eighth grade. By ninth grade, Allard brought the young teenager to the priest’s bed, took off the victim’s clothing and began fondling his penis.

“He never asked me for a hug, he never asked me if I wanted a hug, his comment to me was always, ‘You need a hug,’ and that’s something that I can hear him saying very clearly to this very day,” the survivor told officials in 2013.

While a review board deemed the victim’s abuse credible, then-Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin intervened, asking the Vatican’s powerful doctrine office to allow Allard to retire without being removed from the priesthood. The Vatican agreed.

Sometimes, even those tasked with reviewing abuse cases were also abusers. In 2021, priest Francis Santilli received a child sexual abuse complaint after serving on Rhode Island’s diocese review board. Santilli stepped down, but remained in active ministry even after receiving additional abuse complaints in 2014 and 2021. Santilli wouldn’t be removed until 2022.

“Only the Diocese can explain why this plainly necessary action took so long,” the report says.

Neronha first launched the investigation in 2019, nearly a year after a Pennsylvania grand jury report found more than 1,000 children had been abused by an estimated 300 priests in that state since the 1940s. The 2018 report is considered one of the broadest inquiries into child sexual abuse in U.S. history.

However, unlike Pennsylvania, Rhode Island law doesn’t allow grand jury reports to become public — a hurdle that Neronha has long fought to change.

Instead, Neronha had to enter into an agreement with the diocese to access hundreds of thousands of records of abuse that spanned decades.

While Neronha said the church cooperated, handing over 70 years of what became known as the “secret archive,” or files containing internal investigations, civil settlement records of sexual abuse cases, treatment costs and more.

Yet Neronha says the arrangement “was not without important limits, or without delays.”

“It repeatedly refused my team’s requests for interviews of Diocesan personnel responsible for overseeing the Diocese’s investigations and response to child sexual abuse allegations,” Neronha wrote about the diocese.

Furthermore, an unknown number of victims likely died before coming forward, while some church records have been lost or even destroyed surrounding possible abusive priests. It’s also common for child sexual abuse victims to take decades before coming forward with their stories.

St. Mary's Church is seen Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Cranston, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, which serves as the home church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, is seen Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, which serves as the home church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, is seen Tuesday Feb. 24, 2026, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A statue of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus is displayed outside St. Mary's Church, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Cranston, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

FILE - Attorney General Peter Neronha gives a victory speech after winning a second term, during an election-night gathering of Rhode Island Democratic candidates and supporters on Nov. 8, 2022, in Providence, R.I. . (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell, File)