Mule: I’ve never seen an outburst like that. He scored like a series’ worth of goals in five minutes. I’m giving him partial credit for Bertuzzi’s goal because it wouldn’t have happened without Franzen’s shot and the Bertuzzi redirection was unintentional if not inconsequential. That was the single most in-your-face offensive dominance by a player I’ve seen in a while, if ever (hyperbole alert).

Here’s hoping it’s the start of something special. I don’t think there are that many guys who are more dangerous when they get confident like Mule has to be right now. And yes, I mean every word of that sentence.

Bertuzzi: One of his better games in Red-and-White. He had maybe the easiest assist in team history for Franzen’s second actual credited goal, but he laid it up beautifully. And continued the game with a strong, penalty-less effort. I’ll take a few more of those, please, Todd.

Stuart: Evidently, the injury isn’t so bad, so he should be in Saturday. That’s good news, because the Wings are going to need the best possible defensive corps on hand for Game 5.

Sharks On Notice: That’s because the Sharks now have to be awake. They obviously took last night for granted and effectively rolled over when the going got tough. I’m confident the Wings still would have pulled out the win in any case, but the Sharks aren’t likely to let Game 4 repeat itself tomorrow. The choking doesn’t begin until they fall at home, so the Wings’ work isn’t done yet. The Sharks aren’t just going to topple.

If the Wings can put a rare back-to-back Grade A effort in tomorrow, Game 5 should be epic.

Children: I guess I should concede that the “on notice” thing only definitely applies to mature teams. If the Sharks’ end-of-game childishness is a sign of things to come, forget the last point, except that Game 5 will be epic in that it will be another beatdown. The Sharks, specifically Joe Thornton, cannot afford to lose it like that.

Howard: A strong game that easily could have been a shutout. I’d like to see him stop the Heatley goal, but the guy had plenty of time and space. Not a critical save. A solid rebound game for young James.

Abdelkader: He’s turned into quite the agitator, hasn’t he? He needs to find a way to keep himself from going to the box, but he’s getting under teams’ skin nicely.

Energy level: It was good. I guess the idea that the team was just tired can be discredited after that effort, but that does offer up some disconcerting implications. Namely, that the team’s head just wasn’t in the series until the critical moment. That said, it remains to be seen if they can keep up last night’s effort in San Jose. Franzen has a way of sparking this team to adrenaline-pumped bursts. Here’s hoping he can do it again.

Nabokov: I’ve been saying all series that he’s looked beatable. Last night he looked pathetic. His reaction will be the key. If the Wings got to him and can light him up again in Game 5, what his teammates do will matter a lot less than if they’ve got him backstopping them solidly (obviously). The Wings need to exploit him. Specifically, Franzen. Give the man nightmares, Mule.

Long Road: Everybody’s saying this, but I might as well too. The Wings are a long way from being out of this jam. They need to focus on winning the next shift, the next period and the next game. If they have any juice left for a push, they need to squeeze every last bit out. They should last night that maybe, just maybe, they can reach the end of this particular road after all.

I’m going to keep this brief and not get into the specifics of the game.

I think it’s time to accept that this team has finally run out of gas, that all the hockey they’ve played the past couple years has caught up with them, that the toll this season and the final stretch took on an already-fatigued team is showing in this series. It’s time to accept that this team doesn’t have enough left to pull out of this and go on. And it’s time to accept that a long summer is what they need to refuel.

It’s disappointing. We hardcore fans build up a certain belief that the team is able to overcome anything, that if they just will it, they can do anything (even if sometimes they don’t–but they could!). It’s disappointing to be hit upside the head with a reality presented by a team that couldn’t hold on to at home.

Outsider will view that as choking or something similar. But my feeling is the team is gassed and that no amount of will is going to change that. We can bet that nobody on the red side wanted it more than the actual players. But there are limits to endurance and I think the Wings have it them.

This team hasn’t always fought to the level we expect of them this season. They certainly didn’t when fatigue was less of a legitimate reason, back in January and February. But they did in March and they did something that didn’t seem possible at the start of the calendar year: they made the playoffs and against considerable odds. This is new to me as a Red Wings fan, but I gotta say that means something.

Does it fulfill my expectations for higher levels of success? Absolutely not. But watch them. They’re doing things fatigued teams do and at some point, I have to stop being the backseat-driving fan that demands the impossible and admit that if they don’t have the gas, they just don’t have it. And no amount of railing about it is going to change that.

Now, I would like nothing more than to be wrong and see the Wings come out guns blazing Thursday night to start a comeback for the ages. But whatever happens, I’m going to be proud of this team and what it’s done this year. I’d been frustrated that they couldn’t overcome the Sharks and the officials so far in this series, but last night was a bit of an eye-opener to the reality that they don’t have enough left in the tank.

So. Disappointed and bummed out, but proud.