Devastated. Just completely devastated.
To put into words what I’m feeling right now it going to be impossible because my stream of consciousness right now consists of “ugh…why…no…ughhhh…noooo….sigh” and then I start crying. I’m in shock over what just happened. That doesn’t happen to the Detroit Red Wings and it certainly doesn’t happen against the damn San Jose Sharks.
To be clear, while the officiating was a total embarrassment again, that had nothing to do with the final outcome. If anything, it gave the Wings the chance to win the game on that TERRIBLE penalty shot awarded to Z. The Wings lost this game because they stopped skating and stopped making plays. A two-goal lead at home in the playoffs should be a shoo-in. I don’t know what happened. That’s all I can keep thinking.
The third goal needs to be stopped. It just does. I’m not hating on Jimmy Howard, I’m just saying that he needs to stop that puck. I want that back. I want Jimmy to have another chance. I won’t get that goal out of my head for a long time.
This is totally incoherent, but I needed to get something down. I needed to write something, even if it is the least articulate, polished thing that’s ever been written. This was supposed to be therapeutic, but I can’t help but thinking that screaming at a wall might be the better option.
Wings in 7?
Hockeytown Happenings 
Maybe the Wings were tired. They played seven games last series when they should have closed it out in 5.
SJ had their demons and took the Avalanche too lightly too. But that helped the Sharks.
On paper, both teams are pretty close but the Sharks have a slight advantage. So I expected a 7 game series. Why the discrepency?
It’s not because of bad calls – the Sharks got their bad calls in Gm 2 (that goalie interference call on Heatley?) . And the games were all one-goal games, no blowouts yet (I did think this game would have been a blowout win for the Wings).
The difference I think is:
1) Nabby is playing a little better than Howard. And Nabby’s on the downside of his career but he got a 2nd wind after Game 2 vs the Avs
2) Sharks are fresher than the Wings; Sharks had time to rest. The Wings had to play 7 in the last series and then play Gm 1 48 hours later. Plus the Sharks are a younger team than the Wings.
Sharks can still screw this up but if they play hard like they did so far this series, I think they will win it in 5 or 6.
The Wings are clearly fatigued. They should have finished out Phoenix in Game 6 at home, but instead laid a complete egg and made the series go longer than it should have.
At the same time, though, look at guys like Franzen and Filppula. They were injured for large chunks of the season, so if anything, they should be the freshest guys on the ice.
If Howard doesn’t get in that third goal tonight, the Wings probably win this game and all of a sudden the momentum is in the Wings’ favor. In a series with two teams so evenly matched, it’s moments like that which define the series.
The defensive play has been weak, too. Speaking of little moments, it was Ericsson’s decision to pinch in overtime that led to the winning goal. It’s decisions like that. The Wings are coming up short at the little things. Face-offs, penalty calls, etc.
This isn’t over, but even I have to admit that it’s tough to see the Wings winning four in a row. It’s going to take the stars aligning. Until they’re done, though, I’m not giving up hope.
As a Sharks fan, I’m not ready to say this series is in the bag. The Sharks have not played hard this season until about the 3rd period of the 2nd game vs the Avs. And SJ is still not hitting on all cylinders. Our 1st line did little until today. We still get poor defensive decisions by our D-men like Huskins and Murray. And Nabby is no longer a goalie who can steal a game.
I remember last year’s flameout vs the Ducks when the Sharks had the President’s Trophy.
If the Sharks lose the next 4, it will be a bigger screwup than this year’s Capitals.