Red Wings and classic songs

According to Mick Jaggger and the Rolling Stones, you don't always get what you want, but ya get what ya need. Or more properly put in the case of the Detroit Red Wings going up against the Boston Bruins in a playoff series -- ya pretty much get what ya got coming.

Yes, Boston scored the game-winning goal in overtime to take a commanding 3-1 series lead on a fluke play. An otherwise innocent enough looking shot deflected off the leg of a Detroit player into his own goal. Certainly, that was a fluke play but, in hockey, sometimes those things happen -- both ways.

In the waning minutes of the opening game in Boston, Pavel Datysuk of the Wings scored what could also be deemed an unlikely goal to give the Wings a 1-0 series advantage.

Thing is, since then, Boston has dominated the following three games, and it's really not even a close call. Though they've outscored Detroit 10-3 over that period, it likely should and could have been a lot worse.

Indeed, in Game 4 on their home ice, the Wings got off to a quick start, taking a 2-0 lead. But after that Boston came at them in waves. Along the way, the normally sharp-shooting Bruins inexplicably missed a few wide open nets from close range, else this game never should have went to overtime in the first place.

And let's face it. From top to bottom, the Bruins are vastly superior to the Red Wings. One needs only look at how both teams fared during the course of the regular season. While playing in the same conference, hence facing much the same competition, the stats are quite revealing.

Disregarding overtimes and shootout win/losses, Boston won 54 games, and lost 19. They accumulated 117 points, scored 261 goals, and gave up 177 goals.
Detroit won a mere 39 games, lost 28, accumulated 93 points, scored 222 and surrendered 230.

When one compares the numbers, the differences are startling. Boston racked up a whopping 24 more points, 39 more goals, and surrendered 53 less than Detroit? The Wings gave up 8 more goals than they scored all year long, while the Bruins were a plus 84? Against the same competition? That would explain why Boston is the #1 overall seed and Detroit snuck into the playoffs as the second wild card.

Forget rocket science, or even the wondrous, yet baffling world of my ex. When it comes to the Red Wings and Bruins -- the eventual outcome of this matchup should have been a no-brainer going in. When one is way over his head from the get-go, chances are they're not going to prevail when the going eventually gets tough in the long run.

Can the Wings storm back from a 3-1 deficit and actually win this series? Sure. And maybe my ex will give me back the truck I paid for.

But I wouldn't count on it.

When it comes to the Red Wings this season, another classic song by Bob Seger comes to mind.

Turn the page.

And don't get me started on Led Zeppelin. There will be no stairway to Lord Stanley's heaven this year. Forget about that.

Then again, it could be worse for the Wings. In Detroit, only the Lions find themselves stuck with a boy named Suh.