The Detroit Red Wings headed to Dallas full of disappointment and a desire to do better.
They have taken strides this season in learning how to win in different situations, but they were less than seven minutes away from leaving Columbus with two points and instead left with none. Their lead disappeared into a 5-3 loss Monday at Nationwide Arena.
“We gave up points,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “We had a great first period, played the right way. We got up 2-0 and then we didn’t play. For us to become a good team, we have to learn to put this game away.”
The Wings (8-7-2) came into the four-game trip on a 4-1 roll, capping a homestand with an overtime rally against the Montreal Canadiens. Larkin and Michael Rasmussen provided an early lead against the Blue Jackets and rookie Lucas Raymond scored at 13:31 of the third period.
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“We got another chance, 3-2, and we don’t come away with any points,” Larkin said. “It’s frustrating.”
The Wings generally have played well this season, but coach Jeff Blashill has sounded alarmed that for all the growth on display, team defense isn’t as good as it was last season. The play of Thomas Greiss (33 saves Monday) and Alex Nedeljkovic has masked some of those lapses, but the subject came up again Monday.
“You get the lead late, you have to buckle down and at the very least make them earn it,” Blashill said. “Those last two goals, they didn’t really have to earn them. We gave them away. You’re underneath that six-minute mark, no way you should walk out of here without at least a point. We’ve got steps to take still.
“The bigger picture is that in general, we do have to get better defensively. We have to tighten up defensively.”
Raymond scored the third-period go-ahead goal, but Yegor Chinakhov turned a bouncing puck into a breakaway goal two minutes later, and Zach Werenski flung a puck at the net that eluded Greiss with 1:19 to play. An empty-net goal by Alexandre Texier left the Wings packing their gear up and looking to tighten up defensively as their trip continues onto Dallas, Vegas and Arizona.
“We got away with it a little bit,” Blashill said. “We won a few games in the last little bit that we haven’t been playing quite good enough.
“We’ve talked about learning lessons while we’re winning, but sometimes you have to get slapped in the face. We got slapped in the face.”
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.