Detroit — About 10 minutes. That’s how far away the Red Wings were from one of their best back-to-back victories in recent memory.
Instead, in that span, the Toronto Maple Leafs left the Wings stunned.
A five-goal barrage carried the Leafs to a 7-4 victory Saturday and left the Wings frustrated and disappointed.
“We just let them have their way,” said Wings forward Dylan Larkin, who had two goals. “We just sat back, they came at us in waves, and you can’t do that for 20 minutes in this league. They’re too good a team offensively and we have to make them defend. We did that the first two periods and were successful. In the third, we let them play on the attack too much.”
Coach Jeff Blashill actually saw all of it developing a bit sooner.
“We got too loose in the second (period),” Blashill said. “We gave up some opportunities we didn’t need to. Then in the third, they had all the momentum and we didn’t have enough pushback. We didn’t have enough shifts where we didn’t defend, and our defensive zone coverage was no good.”
The statistics pretty much reflected Saturday’s ending.
“They’re the best offensive team in the offensive zone, and we’ve been one of the worst in the defensive zone, and that’s how it played out,” Blashill said.
The Leafs were relentless in their attack late in the game, and their long list of offensive stars made a big impact.
Somewhere along the way, the Wings needed to have a positive shift to stifle the Leafs’ barrage, but it never happened.
“We didn’t execute on the breakouts and they were able to swarm us and keep pucks alive,” Larkin said. “The most we had was chipping it out and then they came back again. That was going on for 15 minutes. They just came in waves, and we have to find a way to rally and get a shift or two or three in the offensive zone and play down there and make it hard on their players.”
On Friday in Pittsburgh, the Wings played an exemplary defensive road game while eventually swiping a 3-2 shootout victory over the Penguins.
The Wings carried that over into the opening 20 minutes Saturday, playing four periods of the type of fast and pressurized hockey they need to play to be successful.
But it got away from the Wings the final two periods against the Leafs. Instead of a successful weekend, it was another sign the Wings have lessons to be grasped on how to close out some of these games.
“It’s definitely a learning thing,” Blashill said. “I would say this, that we don’t want to be a team that plays close with good teams. We have to find ways to keep getting better here. We have a lot of good teams coming up in the second half of the schedule.
“If we want to be a team that wins these games, that doesn’t play close (and loses), we have to be way better defensively.
“Some of our guys as they’re growing, they just got to grow and through these experiences we’ve got to get better. If we don’t grow from it, then it’s all for naught. As hard as a pill it is to swallow, the biggest thing is we got to get better from it.”
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Blashill milestone
Saturday’s game was the 500th for Blashill as the Wings’ head coach. Only Jack Adams (964), Sid Abel (811), Mike Babcock (786), and Scotty Bowman (701) have coached more for the Wings.
The loss took an amount out of the enjoyment, but Blashill was mindful of the milestone.
“All I would say is I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to work for such a great organization and have an opportunity to coach so many good players and good people,” he said. “Not just here, but through college and junior hockey, and the American League. Real fortunate that way.”
Blashill is 191-241-68 as the Wings’ coach.
Ducks at Red Wings
► Faceoff: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
► TV/radio: BSD/97.1 FM
► Outlook: The Ducks (23-16-8) conclude a five-game road trip in which they’re 3-0-1. … This will be Anaheim’s last game until Feb. 11 because of the All-Star break and rescheduled games. … RW Troy Terry is having a breakout season (25 goals, 41 points).
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan