Bigger Picture Question - What was the deciding factor?

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

They've been covered more or less in this thread I think, but the Wings PP let them down the most I think. You could play the what if game on countless scenarios in any series, and this series was as even as it got, but the lack of efficiency on the Wings PP stands out the most.

This series also showed that the regular season does matter. The Wings screwed the pooch of course in a game 7 at home in the SCF of all games in 2009, but given my choice, I'd take playing a game 7 at home every time still. While finishing as a lower seed than San Jose isn't the only or main thing that caused the Wings to lose, I think it could have certainly been a factor.

[dragonballgtz 273]

Our 2nd tier scoring being way too inconsistent and not showing up every game. Datsyuk, Hank, Lidstrom, and Howie kept us in the games from games 1-3. If Flip, Hudler, Bert, Cleary or anyone else helped out we could've gotten a win in one of those earlier games.

[eva unit zero 271]

It came down to a few lucky (or unlucky) bounces, not even necessarily injuries.

Things like last night; Kronwall takes a pass on his backhand and he's wide open with an open net in front of the net. He moves it to his forehand and the puck hadn't quite settled down and it's gone. If he's a righty, if he is three feet to his right, or even if he just has that puck settled a little more that's in the net. And that's just one example. The whole "righty/lefty" thing happened a few notable times where a Detroit player took the puck on the backhand and had to move to the forehand, when if they shot with the other hand it's a goal, or cleared puck, or whatever.