The losses are beginning to pile up for the Red Wings.
Maybe a little frustration, also, for a team that seems to play well enough just to lose these days.
Toronto sent the Wings (16-15-7) to their third consecutive loss Saturday, 4-1. It was the Wings’ fourth loss in five games, and they only have three wins in their last 12 games (3-7-2).
Pontus Holmberg scored his fourth goal, redirect a shot by Morgan Rielly past goaltender Magnus Hellberg (24 saves) at 6 minutes, 19 seconds of the third period, giving the Leafs a 3-1 lead.
Jake Walman, a Toronto native, scored his third goal in the first period, the lone Wings’ offense.
Mitch Marner (power play) and John Tavares had second-period Toronto goals, with Tavares added an empty-net goal, his 18th goal, to close the scoring.
Special teams have plagued the Wings the last two games and they got marginally better against Toronto (24-9-7). The Wings killed four of five Toronto power plays, but the Wings failed on all four of their own power-play attempts.
“Very similar, underlying them from the last two games,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde told Bally Sports Detroit. “Not able to generate enough finish on some of our chances and lost the special teams again. The penalty kill was much better but we’re still down (one goal) on the special teams.”
The Wings have only scored four goals in the last three losses. The Wings’ offensive push waned as Saturday’s game progressed.
“It was our inability to score a second goal, with some great chances,” Lalonde said. “Just our margin of error is extremely thin right now and we were unable to produce offense.”
Walman was coming out of the penalty box when he gathered a stretch pass from Olli Maatta. Walman skated in alone and snapped a shot past goaltender Ilya Samsonov (22 saves) at 9:56 of the first period.
BOX SCORE: Maple Leafs 4, Red Wings 1
Along with Walman’s goal, the Wings held the Leafs to a staggering two shots on net for the opening 20 minutes, the second Toronto shot a harmless shot from long range.
“We forechecked well, we made them turn the puck over a lot, we spent more time in the offensive zone and didn’t spend much time in our own defensive zone,” Maatta told Bally Sports Detroit. “We play like that, we win.”
But the Leafs quickly rebounded in the second period.
“The second period wasn’t good enough for us,” Maatta said. “We gave them too much time, too much time to come out with the puck and play in the offensive zone, and we didn’t get stops. That’s a good team and if you give them time, they’ll make plays.”
Marner scored his 15th goal, and earned his 500th career point, putting back a rebound from a bad angle past Hedberg at just 24 seconds.
Marner’s goal was the fifth allowed by the Wings’ struggling penalty kill in the last three games.
The Leafs took the lead on Tavares’ 17th goal, at 6:37.
Shortly after Samsonov made a good save on Michael Rasmussen in close, the Leafs rushed the puck up the ice and Tavares got free down the slot and curled a puck around Hedberg.
Toronto has won nine consecutive games over the Wings, dating to 2018.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan