Battered & bruised Red Wings fall in San Jose, 3-2

After winning three in a row when they were down 0-3 in the series & despite a valiant effort, the Detroit Red Wings fought to the very end, but lost 3-2 in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals to the San Jose Sharks, the same team that knocked them out a year ago in five games.

In an attempt to becoming the fourth team in NHL history to come back from such a deficit, the Red Wings saw their teammates fall one after another. Detroit didn’t have Johan Franzen when the game began due to a sprained ankle, lost Todd Bertuzzi 10 minutes into the game with an upper body injury after hitting San Jose's Dany Heatley, and were without Danny Cleary after the second period due to an accidental collision with fellow teammate Jiri Hudler's elbow. Cleary hit the ice hard and was prone on the ice for several minutes before being helped off.

Henrik Zetterberg & Pavel Datsyuk scored for the Red Wings and Detroit furiously pushed for the tying goal in the frantic final minutes, but couldn't beat Niemi again - even after getting a late power-play chance.

With Detroit's season over, the 41-year-old Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who has won four Stanley Cup titles with Detroit, says he'll take his time in deciding on returning for a 20th NHL season.

As for the Sharks, they will go north to Vancouver to face a well-rested Canucks team this weekend to begin the Western Conference Finals.