Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill likes to say that if you take your foot off the gas even a little bit in today’s NHL, you will be overtaken by the other team.

It’s too bad that his team is so often determined to prove him right.

After two stellar performances in Edmonton and Vancouver, the Wings closed out their four-game Canadian road trip by letting up on the accelerator to commence Thursday’s game at Calgary. As a result, they dug an early 2-0 hole and although they fought back with tenacity, still fell decisively by a 6-3 count.

“We came out, we were very very aggressive early,” Blashill said. “I thought we had the better of the play early. They scored and I thought we got on our heels a little bit too much. I thought we played passive the rest of the period. Our D gaps weren’t good enough.

“I thought we came out in the second and played much better, played really good in the third but we just gave up easy goals. You can’t give up easy goals in this league and win.”

Detroit is now 1-7 this season when giving up the first goal of the game, and the Wings too often Thursday resembled the team of last season that couldn’t maintain puck control within their own zone of the rink, leading to those easy goals that Blashill referenced.

“I’d say so,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall agreed. “I think there were a few times when we had the puck on our stick in our own zone, and the next thing you know they have the puck and the puck’s in our net. There were a few of those tonight and on the road you can’t let five (six with the empty netter) go in and expect to win.

“In saying that, I still think we did a lot of good things. I thought we had a lot of good looks. We had the opportunity to come back. We didn’t get quite get it done, obviously. We made some big mistakes that cost us big time.

“But again, I think we did a fairly good job of creating some chances. We had some really good looks in the third. But in the end, if you let five go in, it’s going to be a tough night.”

Another issue from a year ago also crept back into Detroit’s game, players cheating on the offensive side of the puck looking for turnover chances that weren’t there.

“Yeah, that’s why we weren’t on the right side a few times,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Cheating maybe a little bit, or turned the puck over in bad spots. It’s tough to do that against this team. They’re fast and they’re skilled.

“When they got chances, they really took advantage of it.”

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