An Epic Series
The Detroit Red Wings will be playing the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals, for the second straight year. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Not only will Pittsburgh be looking to exact revenge against the Wings, but they’ll also be looking to prove Marian Hossa wrong. Hossa, who was with the Penguins last year, signed a one-year deal with the Wings believing it was his best opportunity to win a cup. Well, now he has to beat his former team to win that trophy.
On paper, when healthy, the Wings are still better than the Penguins even with Crosby and Malkin being monsters in the postseason. However, the Wings aren’t healthy. In the last game against Chicago the Wings were missing Lidstrom (captain, Norris trophy finaliste), Datsyuk (assistant capatain, hart finalist), Draper (assistant capatain, faceoff specialist), Lilja and Ericsson. This will set up for an intriguing series as even if those some of those players return, they aren’t likely to be a 100%.
Pittsburgh’s two stars have been able to run away with scoring in the playoffs. However, they have also played against three subpar defensive corps in my mind. While the Wings have played a more wide open game this year, their defense still is rock solid. The Wings also have played against arguably the best defensive corps ever iced in Anaheim, a great but young corps in Chicago, and a solid one with Columbus. And the Wings have played against three top-flight goaltenders while Pittsburgh played against two if you count Varlamov, who had played only a handful of NHL games before. What I’m saying is that with all respect to Philadelphia, Washington, and Carolina (three teams I quite like), Detroit has had to go through touger teams.
This could be good or bad. Carolina had a difficult path, and were spent by the time they squared off against Pittsburgh. Detroit is at least twice as deep as Carolina though, however they do have all those pesky injuries while Pittsburgh remains healthy. However, Hossa will be driven to play the best hockey of his life. Franzen never slows down in the playoffs, and neither does Zetterberg. Filppula and Helm are young and enjoying their added responsibilities and I see no reason for those two to slow down. The defense could be a bit different, even without Lidstrom, the pairing of Kronwall and Stuart will be something quite unlike anything Pittsburgh has so far faced. Osgood never seems to let anything get to him in the playoffs, and I’m expecting a good series from him.
All in all thise should be an epic series.
I’m trusting my Wings though, and am calling them in seven.
Let's Take a Walk in the Woods. 