In the famous 1975 movie "Jaws," Roy Scheider's character Martin Brody says to Robert Shaw's character Quint, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
That's pretty much the situation the Red Wings are in now, down three games to none to the San Jose Sharks after Tuesday's demoralizing 4-3 overtime loss at Joe Louis Arena.
Those Sharks are looking bigger and hungrier than ever, and like that beast in "Jaws," they just keep coming.
For those counting, that's two straight games the Wings have had a lead heading into the final period and ended up losing. Game 3's loss looks even worse when you consider the Wings had a 3-1 lead and started the third by killing off the remainder of a penalty called late in the second.
The Wings, with all of their veteran leadership and experience, haven't recovered from any 3-0 deficits in the past. Not many teams have.
Maybe they can bring Johnny Damon back from the Tigers' road trip to talk about how he and the Red Sox rebounded from their 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in 2004 and went on to win the World Series.
The worst part of it from the Wings' perspective is the 2010 edition of the Sharks has shown no signs of being the playoff choke artists from previous years.
“They way we play, we never give up," said Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who made 32 saves. "That's the biggest difference from last year.”
And the 2010 edition of the Red Wings has not demonstrated that killer instinct that the championship teams showed. When those teams took a lead into the third period, it was over. There were no magical comebacks for the opponent.
“To come back in this building from down 3-1, it doesn't happen a lot," Nabokov noted.
Of course, everyone is saying all the right things in advance of Thursday night's Game 4.
The Wings are taking the "only looking at the next game" approach.
"You have to try to break it down and look at that next game," Wings captain Nick Lidstrom said. "You can't look at the mountain that you have ahead of you. You can only look at that next game and focus on that and doing the things you have to do to win a game, and that's our main focus right now."
Added Henrik Zetterberg, who had a goal and an assist (and a missed penalty shot): "It's not the situation we wanted to be in. But we know it's the first to four and we gotta keep playing, keep doing good things and win one game, win two games and then we're right in the mix again."
For their part, the Sharks are in full "we respect the Red Wings" mode.
"We have so much respect for that team," said defenseman Dan Boyle, who had eight shots in Game 3. "If there's one team that can come back from a 3-0 deficit, it's them. There's so much work left to be done. We have to win one more. It's too good of a team over there. They're not going to lay down and die."
Sharks coach Todd McLellan served as Mike Babcock's assistant for three seasons, including the 2008 Stanley Cup winning one.
"They didn't have to win that one, they have to win the next one," McLellan said. "That's when it becomes a must-win."
It's kind of ironic that the one guy who has taken most of the blame for the Sharks' recent playoff failures is the one who cut the lead to one goal and set up the winner for Patrick Marleau on a 2-on-1 rush.
Joe Thornton may not have done a lot in the first round against Colorado but he's come alive in this round, maybe because the onus isn't all on him anymore.
The other Joe, Joe Pavelski, and his line with Ryan Clowe and Devin Setoguchi, have lifted some of the burden off Thornton.
"I think we have so much confidence in Pav's line," Thornton said. "They're just showing up each and every night. We might not have had that in the past, the secondary scoring. Now, with our line going we have a lot more confidence this year."
In the movie "Jaws," they eventually blew up that big Shark, but the Shark devoured quite a few people before that happened.
These Sharks might not go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals but right now it looks like the Red Wings will be one of their victims before they get blown up.
For more on the Red Wings, check out FOX Sports Detroit.
