Confusion...

Can someone tell me how to feel about this loss? Because I am honestly confused as to how I should feel right now. There's disappointment mixed with anger mingling with both the "I knew this would happen" and the "Wait what?" feelings.

I will admit that I didn't watch this game as closely as I should have. I was helping entertain family members, who have no interest in watching hockey and liked to yell, "OH. PHOENIX SCORED A GOAL. THE WINGS ARE DONE. CHANGE THE CHANNEL." So it was more than difficult to pay serious attention.

We looked good. We had pressure on the power plays and controlled the puck for the majority of the first and the second. But we didn't make anything out of any of our power plays [and that lengthy 5-on-3]. We couldn't solve Bryzgalov, who was playing out of his mind. As Nick Lidstrom said, it came down to special teams being the difference and I knew it was only a matter of time before they got multiple power play goals in a game. Plus, when you give up a short-handed goal, that sucks some of the life out of you.

Our downfalls:

-Power Play. This was stated above.

-Penalty Kill. Also stated above.

-Brad Stuart decided to fall asleep for a minute there as he was skating out of the zone with the puck. Then he woke up and scored a goal, but it wasn't enough.

-We stopped playing after we got down by too many goals.

-Datsyuk wasn't Datsyukian enough. And to add to that, the Mule just wasn't hungry. Someone please go starve him so he'll be hungry for Tuesday night's game. Maybe that'll be his breakout game. I don't want him to turn out like Hossa last year and do nothing for us.

-I made my game-day blog post the night before and not the day of. Damn superstitions will be the death of me. I also didn't wash my "I <3 Datsyuk" shirt like I did between Games Four and Five. Guess this one's dead, too. All I've got left is Hossa [screw that], Mule, 08 Cup Champs, and "Who Said Only Angels Have Wings?" with a picture of a halo over the Winged Wheel. Oh, and my jerseys. I might break out Franzen for Tuesday. That's been undefeated since I bought it in March.

Phoenix is going to come out with a fiery passion on Tuesday night. They have a lot to prove and a lot to lose. But reverse the situation: The Red Wings are in the same position. They need to prove to us fans that they can play in a pivotal game with heart and soul since the last Game Seven we witnessed was "The Event That Shall Not Be Named," as many bloggers refer to it. And if we lose, our efforts to make it into the playoffs, to make another long playoff run, to make it to the Cup Finals for the third straight year, will be shot.

Jimmy Howard is not at fault for this game. Yes, he should have had the shortie, but that's the only major downfall I can recall right now. And when he has a bad game, how does he play in the next one? Oh, that's right. One goal over the span of 120 minutes. He knows Game Seven is important, much like he knew Game Five was important.

This should be Mike Babcock's speech to the Red Wings, "Hey. If you don't go out and win Game Seven and play the full sixty minutes, I will personally come and murder each and every one of you in your sleep. Because I want to win the Cup, and so do you. So wake up and play hockey, boys. Or I'll kill you."

We don't play well when we're televised on NBC. Four games on NBC this season:

1. Loss to Chicago in a SO [with that sick Datsyuk SO goal].
2. Loss to Pittsburgh in a SO
3. Loss to Philly
4. Win in OT against Chicago to play Phoenix in the Playoffs

We're not done yet, people. Don't give up hope. Or do, because then the Wings will have to prove you wrong. And that might be a good thing.