Red Wings-Blue Jackets: A 2-0 Series Lead Doesn't Mean You Can Relax

Listen up, Red Wings. I'm sure you've heard this a million times before, and I'm sure Babcock drilled this into your heads long before I typed it up, but don't lay off the gas now.

Through two games, Detroit has thoroughly dominated their first-round opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets. I mean, it hasn't been close; you look for positives Columbus can take from those first two games, and it's an extremely short list.

The play of R.J. Umburger has been inspiring, and if Columbus had a lesser goalie than Steve Mason, this pair of contests could have potentially been more embarrassing.

Honestly, though, the Blue Jackets have been outshot, outhit, outscored, outchanced, and outmatched.

Still, Playoff series last longer than two games, and the format is 2-2-1-1-1 for a reason. Even a team that's in as deep a 2-0 hole as possible still has a chance when the next two games are on their home ice.

Columbus still has a 40-goal scorer in Rick Nash, they still have the top goalie in the NHL for the 2008-09 season, and they still have one of the best coaches in the game in Ken Hitchcock.

What they've lacked, more than anything through the first two games, is intensity.

What would be clear to anyone watching this series is that Detroit is playing on a level above that of Columbus; this was somewhat expected. The postseason is a trial by fire; if you've never experienced Playoff hockey, how do you know how high the bar is set? How do you know how hard you really have to work to succeed?

Columbus is finding out, though, and that means Detroit must keep the intensity level high. It would only take a 1-0 Columbus lead in a Nationwide Arena packed with frenzied Blue Jackets fans experiencing their team's first home "second season" game to ignite a spark for their team.

Sometimes a single, solitary goal can change the direction of an entire series. Just ask Nick Lidstrom circa 2001 during the Red Wings-Canucks first-round series.

Detroit was in a 2-0 hole of their own at the time, and their star goalie, Dominik Hasek, wasn't playing as well as he could have been. Meanwhile, Vancouver's Dan Cloutier was stonewalling the star-studded Red Wings.

But then, in Game Three, Lidstrom blasted a rocket from near center ice that inexplicably beat Cloutier. The Wings took the lead in the game and never looked back, winning that series 4-2.

So, just a reminder, Detroit: Bring your A-game and your killer instinct tomorrow night and weather the storm that will surely occur in the first 10 minutes of that first period.

Go in for the kill and don't let up. Your opponent isn't going to cut you any breaks.