Can't blame the Red Wings -- and their fans -- for asking, "What if?"
But it's better they forget about that and worry about the more critical matter in these Stanley Cup playoffs: What now?
Yes, their stunning 4-0 victory Saturday at Tampa Bay could have closed out this opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series had the Wings avoided a meltdown in the final five minutes of Game 4 on Thursday. But that's ancient history by now.
Behind a 28-save shutout by rookie Petr Mrazek, his second in these playoffs against the highest-scoring team in the NHL, the Wings put themselves in a position to advance to the second round with a victory Monday at the Joe against the favored Lightning.
The win was the second for Detroit at Tampa Bay, which also had the best home record in the league this season -- as well as the worst road record of the 16 playoff teams this spring.
Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller, Pavel Datsyuk and Danny Dekeyser (empty net) scored the goals. Sheahan's second of the series and Datsyuk's third came on the power play, which finally awakened for the Wings in this series. And Justin Abdelkader, as he has done since his he rejoined the lineup in Game 3 after a hand injury, set the tone with nine hits.
In fact, the Wings have dominated the Lightning in all three games since Abdelkader returned. That's not a coincidence, and it's probably why it looked like he had a target on his back the way Lightning players were headhunting him in the closing minutes.
Saturday's game was a thing of beauty, a work of art. The Wings were in control from the opening face-off. They forechecked tenaciously and backchecked ferociously. They supported their teammates all over the ice and especially in the neutral zone, where they prevented Tampa Bay from doing what it does best -- gather speed.
The Wings were by far the faster, quicker team again Saturday. And by the end of the game, the Lightning seemed more interested in hurting people than scoring.
Abdelkader nearly had his head taken off when he was hit into the back boards by defenseman Jason Garrison and frustrated (and still goalless) captain Steven Stamkos, who went to the penalty box for elbowing.
Datsyuk made them pay with a power-play goal, his third of the series, with just over four minutes to play.
So what now? Fair question.
It's back to the Joe, where the Wings will try to do what neither team has been able to do in this series: win two straight. In fact, the Wings haven't won consecutive games since the end of February during that fabulous Western road trip.
In these last three games, the Wings have played like they did then -- and through most of the first 65 games or so of the season.
"The last three games here, our game has come back to us," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "We're doing a lot of good things, especially defensively. We're getting the pucks out, getting pucks deep and spending a lot more time in their zone."
How good were they Saturday? For a stretch of nearly 19 minutes -- from the middle of the first period to the middle of the second -- the Lightning had no shots on goal. Zip. Zero. Nada.
And the defensive effort involved every Wings player who went over the boards, shift after shift. They formed a protective wall around Mrazek, helping him out with 14 blocked shots.
Tampa Bay has scored just eight goals in this series.
"We've done a lot better job of taking away time and space from their really skilled forwards," Kronwall said.
Glendening, playing with a heavily bandaged hand that was cut in Game 4, was still effective and concurred.
"They're so offensively dynamic," he said of the Lightning. "They can really skate, so anything we can do to slow them down is huge."
Wings coach Mike Babcock praised his players for another strong team effort -- and for some remarkable resiliency following the heartbreak of losing in overtime Thursday after controlling most of Game 4.
"The guys did a real good job," he said. "We thought we played real well in Game 3 and Game 4, but it didn't go our way in Game 4. Everybody was in mourning for a little bit, but then got back at it. I thought we played a solid game tonight."
What now?
The Wings need to catch Lightning in a bottle and bury it Monday. Sure, they have two games to win one, but all bets are off if they need to return to Tampa for Game 7.
Two victories at a very difficult place to win is one thing. Winning three? Better not to tempt that fate.
They know that. They also know from watching the other series around the league how difficult it is to win a clinching game. Just ask Montreal fans, who have seen their team fail in two tries to dispatch Ottawa.
This much we know: The blueprint has been established. The Wings are well aware of what they need to do and how to go about it.
"We know we can play our game," said Miller, the one-time castoff from Tampa Bay who got rewarded with his first goal for all the unsung work he's done in this series, especially on Detroit's stifling penalty kill. "Just keep the same approach. We've got our home crowd, too, so that will be big."
As big as it gets for a playoff game in April.
"There will be a lot of emotion," Glendening said. "The Joe will be rocking. We've just got to stick with our game plan and keep our emotions in check."
