DETROIT >> The Red Wings maybe, finally, are figuring out to win these tight, close games decided by a goal.

Incredibly, 10 of their last 13 games have been decided by a single goal. And even in those three other games, the Wings scored a late empty-net goal in two of the games for victories, while Philadelphia did likewise in the other.

They are 3-4-3 in those one-goal decisions, earning nine of a possible 20 points.

Still, the Wings won two of their last three games down to the wire (Buffalo in a shootout, Toronto when Lucas Raymond clinched the outcome with an empty netter with two seconds left).

“You just get comfortable with it,” said coach Derek Lalonde of playing similar cliffhangers. “But you can be as comfortable as you want with it, but you need to flip them.”

Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Toronto was particularly interesting in the way the Wings went about winning.

Toronto tied the game a little over a minute into the third period, only to see the Wings regain the lead less than a minute later on Jeff Petry’s goal. The Wings maintained the lead while holding Toronto to four shots in the period, until Raymond added the empty-net goal with two seconds remaining.

It was an impressive performance with the lead, against an elite offensive team.

As well as the Wings may have been playing during a five-game losing streak recently, in particular, and all the games decided by a one-goal margin, they needed to begin winning some of those hockey games. Lalonde felt at some point, given the way the Wings were playing, it was going to happen.

In the last several games, it’s begun to happen.

“Again, I may sound like a broken record, but what is a little bit frustrating in our big picture is that five-game stretch, and our process and underlying numbers, they are easy to pick apart when you’re winning and not as easy pick apart when you’re losing, but whatever the reality is, the bottom line is finding ways to win games,” Lalonde said. “We need to slip some of those tight games, and we’ve done that in two of our last three to get some traction here.”

Playing in these games where a single mistake can decide an outcome one way or another, has become natural lately for the Red Wings.

And in the Toronto win, there was a definite sense the Wings were confident and at ease.

“It helps to be comfortable in those situations, and find ways to win,” Lalonde said. “Hang in there with your game and make that play, and be comfortable in those situations, which I thought for the most part against Toronto, we were comfortable in that game.

“That game felt comfortable throughout, despite the fact you could tell their elite, high-end guys were on top of their game.”

Active defense

The Wings’ defensemen have been more active from an offensive standpoint in the last three games and it has produced needed and important goals.

Moritz Seider had a game-tying goal against Buffalo and a goal against Toronto. Jeff Petry had a goal and assisted on a shot that went off Michael Rasmussen’s body. Ben Chiarot scored the lone goal against Philadelphia.

There seems to be a more conscious effort to put pucks on net and it’s been working.

“It’s good and it was needed,” Seider said. “Obviously, it’s not the primary job, but I would say it’s a really good feeling. We can do a better job of just getting pucks to the net, especially from the blue line, creating a little bit of chaos in front of the net and let the forwards do their work net-front, and hopefully we (defensemen) can chip in a little bit of offense that way.”Ice chips

Dylan Larkin didn’t practice Monday, Lalonde calling it a maintenance day. Lalonde said Larkin will be available to play Wednesday against Philadelphia (7 p.m./TNT/97.1).

… Goaltender Cam Talbot (lower-body) participated in about half of Monday’s practice and Lalonde is optimistic Talbot could be in uniform this weekend.

Goaltender Alex Lyon (lower-body) could possibly start against Philadelphia. Lyon hasn’t played since Nov. 26 but has practiced full-tilt for nearly a week. Lalonde said he’d decide between Lyon and Ville Husso for the Flyers’ game.

… Lalonde, an upstate New York native who splits his loyalties between the Buffalo Bills and the Lions, attended Sunday’s game at Ford Field with family.

“Good game, I was hoping for a 50-50 tie and we almost got there,” Lalonde said. “My daughter was dejected though. She’s turned into a real big Lions fan, which is pretty cool.”

… Forward Marco Kasper (illness) didn’t practice Monday but is expected to be ready for Philadelphia.