Heads up, Red Wings fans. Just like your team when it lined up for the series-ending handshake Wednesday night.
There's no shame in losing a Stanley Cup Game 7 when every player laid it all on the line, in one of the best team efforts we've seen in this improbable, roller-coaster hockey season.
When you play the best you can, when you give everything you have and just can't find a way -- or the luck -- to win, all there's left to do is look the other guys in the eye, shake their hands and wish them luck in their next series.
Tampa Bay advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 2-0 victory. And the Red Wings' season is over in the first round for the third time in four years.
"It's really tiring," captain Henrik Zetterberg said of having to talk about another first-round KO. "We had a good team. We had a good chance.
"We could have won this series. We were in all the games except the first two -- and we stole the first one. But unfortunately we couldn't get it done."
Not for lack of effort.
In Game 7, the Wings dominated the NHL's highest-scoring team in every category except where it counts -- on the scoreboard. For 50 minutes or so, it looked like they were going to find a way to win a third game at Amalie Arena, where the Lightning compiled the league's best home record this season.
From the opening face-off, there was a feeling like one goal would make all the difference. And Tampa Bay scored it on a screened shot by defenseman Braydon Coburn.
"I didn't see the puck coming. It was a nice shot," said Petr Mrazek, who played masterfully throughout this series, using it as a kind of coming-out party and establishing himself as Detroit's goalie of the future.
The Wings were not without their chances to win this game. They outshot Tampa Bay, 31-17, and the scoring chances were probably more lopsided than that in Detroit's favor. The difference in this game was Tampa goalie Ben Bishop, who played his best game of the series by far, stopping everything the Wings threw his way.
"Tonight it looked like they went to church and we didn't," said Mike Babcock, who on his 52nd birthday might have coached his final game for the Red Wings at the end of a sterling 10-year run. "Let's be honest: We were better than they were tonight. We had the puck all the time and we didn't score. They got a break and scored a goal.
"But the bottom line is, we came in here, we were prepared, we executed. We should have found a way to win and we didn't. But the team that loses often feels like that."
Heads up, Wings fans. Just like Zetterberg, a warrior among warriors who led the way through the handshake line, smiling and nodding despite the heartache.
Well behind him in line was Justin Abdelkader, using his left hand to shake hands -- which tells you all you need to know about how badly his right hand has been hurting since he rejoined this series in Game 3.
He wasn't alone. Luke Glendening also played through a hand injury, a severe cut on his right thumb. And we're sure to learn more about other Wings players who were nursing injuries in the coming days.
Several key players weren't able to dress. Notable among them was Niklas Kronwall, their most important defenseman. Also missing were two key acquisitions at the trade deadline, guys who were acquired precisely to be the difference in a series like this: winger Erik Cole, who suffered what may be a career-ending neck injury; and defenseman Marek Zidlicky, who suffered a head injury early in Game 6.
Those are huge holes to fill, especially at the blue line. But in the absence of Kronwall and Zidlicky, Jakub Kindl and Alexey Marchenko stepped right in and played outstanding hockey, giving the Wings and their fans that much more hope for a brighter future.
"Our fans should be proud of how hard our guys competed," Babcock said. "They really did compete."
It just wasn't enough. And when that happens, we tend to ask why, which usually leads to finger-pointing -- right or wrong.
No need for that on this night. Zetterberg, one of the finest leaders in sports, stepped in front of his team to take that bullet, too.
"I look to myself," he said after going without a goal in a playoff series for the first time in his career. "I couldn't really produce the way I wanted to. With the amount of ice time, and on the power play, I should produce more."
He said it looking straight into the camera, looking you right in the eye. This was your captain speaking.
He and his teammates did their best. It wasn't quite good enough. They feel as badly as you do. Probably worse. But they're not hanging their heads.
