Well, it's All Over; Sharks Win Series 4-1

It's only befitting that the series-winning goal comes when the Sharks should've been short-handed but another non-call results in a Patrick Marleau winner. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself with the badly drawn MS Paint Sharks logo... it was just too easy.

I'm sure there are plenty of others that'll do it, so I'm not gonna harp on the officiating anymore, promise. The fact is, the Sharks were a great team in this series. They scored the big third-period goals and got it done when needed. Detroit had a chance with a 50-second 6-on-4 powerplay at the end and didn't get it done. That about sums the series up. They are not the shakey Guppies of the past. They've got guts and hunger. Sadly, I've gained a lot of respect for Jumbo Joe and I can no longer call him Joke Thornton. He was their best, most consistent player throughout the series and they wouldn't have won without him.

Still, I'm not ashamed of my Wings. It's been a tough season. We were decimated in the off-season and then once more during the regular season. My hope is this loss instills a fresh new passion into the Red Wings for next year. We'll get a chance at a new forward or two after July 1 and I truly believe Jimmy Howard can be a Cup-winning goalie with a little more experience and polish to his game.

Howard had a tough time in a few games these playoffs but he successfully managed to bounce back and keep his head straight. The thing about being a Red Wings goalie is you don't need to channel Terry Sawchuk to go all the way. It's a great team you have in front of you and as long as you can make some timely saves in the tight games, you'll probably win. Okay, so that's not what happened last night, whatever. Jimmy played a brilliant game and he has nothing to be ashamed of. Stuff like Game 3 will be [hopefully] eliminated from his game with experience and if so, the Wings have themselves the right man between the pipes.

So back to the Sharks series...

Yeah the more you think about it, it's a tough pill to swallow. In three of our four losses we had a lead. In 2 of them that was in the third period. In a lop-sided 4-1 series loss, we actually outscored them by three goals. But it just wasn't our series. For some reason, it just wasn't meant to be.

After three straight to the West Finals and two to the Cup Finals, the boys have earned this summer, I hope they enjoy it. It's a chance to re-charge, re-group, re-focus and come back for the next Cup run in 2011.

Congrats to the Sharks on a great win.

Congrats to the Wings on a great season.