Babcock on why the Wings lost the Cup in 2007

According to Mike Babcock, this play is the reason we lost the 2007 Western Conference Finals to Anaheim. Here's what Babs has to say in his recent book, Leave No Doubt:

In the 2007 playoffs, I was coaching the Detroit Red Wings versus Scott [Niedermayer]'s Anaheim Ducks. He made a great play in Game Five to tie the game 1-1 and set them up for an overtime win. We went to Anaheim for Game Six and they knocked us out of the playoffs. Then they went on to beat Ottawa for the Stanley Cup. I believe if Scott doesn't make that play in Game Five, we win the Cup.

Think about that for a minute. We're one play away from winning the Cup in 2007, and one more play away from winning the Cup in 2009. That's be three Cups in three years, and the closest thing to a dynasty we've seen in professional sports in quite a while.

It's painful to think about what could have been, but take some solace in this. The management in Detroit knows how to build a winning club in the post-lockout era, and if it wasn't for two plays we'd have multiple banners to show for it.

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