Crossroads

Do I think the Red Wings have the ability to wrap up this series tomorrow? Absolutely. Will they? That part of the bargain is up to them.

Since I don't have a chance to be on the computer tomorrow, I thought I'd do my game-day post the night before. At least on this game-day, I have way too many things to do that will eat up a lot of time before the puck drops around 2:10pm.

Has the series shifted in our favor? If we keep playing like we have, absolutely. But if we let up, even a little bit, we tilt it back toward Phoenix. I'm sure the Wings don't want to go back to the desert for one last game and I don't want to stay up late and hear that stupid wolf call that makes me think I'm in line for The Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World.

So here are my Keys for Victory for Game Six:

1. Strong PK. If we let Phoenix get any momentum on their PP and we can't crush it immediately, we're in some hot water. Also, as a sub-bullet point, a strong PP for us would be good, too.

2. CLEAR THE PUCK OUT OF THE ZONE. If there was one thing we did too much of in Game Five, it was not clear the zone. Weak passes up the boards or up the middle don't work, especially when they're picked off by Coyotes.

3. Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula need to keep sparkling. Keep the pressure on the forecheck and keep Phoenix back on their heels. This goes for Justin Abdelkader, too. And hell, the whole team, too.

4. Mule needs to get hungry. He's starving, you say? GET HUNGRIER. I want him to be so hungry that he treats everyone to curly fries for lunch on Monday.

5. Everyone on the Detroit Red Wings needs to shoot high on Bryzgalov, take Shanny shots from behind the goal line and try to bank them in off Bryz, and when you're streaking up the wing, deke into the middle and shoot. Datsyuk was doing that a lot in Game Five and he got some pretty good chances.

6. Jimmy Howard needs to keep being solid. In 120 minutes of play, he's let in one goal. His SV% is .9833. Pretty damn solid and if he wanted to keep that up, I would be all right with that.

Godspeed, Red Wings.

In the words of the infamous homeless guy with the Hulk hand that stands around down by COBO, "Here we go, Red Wings, here we go! Where we gonna go?! All the way to the Stanley CUP!" Eat 'em up, Red Wings. We'll be cheering you on along the way.