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, redirecting 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 adding an empty-netter, 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.
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.
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.
But the Leafs quickly rebounded in the second period.
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.
