The Reason the Wings Have Lost

In the 2008 and 2009 playoffs, the mighty Detroit Red Wings went on a 7-game series win-streak good for one Stanley Cup. Since that point they've now gone 1-2 in playoff series'. Sure, it's not an alarmingly bad stat, but for this organization it just doesn't cut it.

The playoffs are a tough environment to win in. Games are closer, scoring is tougher and consistency is nearly impossible against an opponent that is constantly learning about you. Because of this, teams need to be able to win the close games. Holding leads and tying games in the dying moments is the trademark of a resilient contender. Coupling that with 3+ goal blowouts makes a Champion team.

For as long as I can remember, Detroit has always been able to smash teams from time to time. Even in the series' they lose, there are games where they've dominated. In the last three series' the Wings have lost, they've had two 5-goal wins and a 6-goal victory. However, it was the one-goal games that made the difference and cost them in the end.

During the 7-series streak Detroit went 11-8 in games decided by one goal. Not a dominant stat, but again -- when coupled with results by larger margins, it makes for a pretty good Cup run.

Over the last 3 series the Wings have played they've gone 0-7 in 1-goal games.

How can you expect to win a series if you can't win a close game?

Red Wings' fans keep speaking of how undeserved the 4-1 result was but -- all officiating complaints aside -- the Wings couldn't hold their leads and they couldn't score late goals to win the close games. Against a team like San Jose, you can't expect to be smashing them by 3+ goals four times like you can with Phoenix [something which, I might add, I think the Wings were very lucky to do].

I don't know if it's a mental thing or not, but you can't blame an 0-7 run on luck nor can you blame it on the officials. In 2008, Detroit killed a late 5-on-3 powerplay for the Penguins to go on and win a close game to take a 3-1 series lead. That is what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. That's Championship grit.

San Jose is a team that looks like they might be showing glimpses of that kind of Championship grit. Lop-sided penalties aside, San Jose won four 1-goal games against Detroit. That's huge, and as a result, they took the series in only 5 games and await Chicago or Vancouver in the Conference Finals.

I remain optimistic things can change next April but if they don't, the results will be very much the same as they were this year.