Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
Once the Bruins were knocked out of the playoffs, which seems like months ago, I knew there would be a Stanley Cup Finals rematch from a year ago. The Eastern Conference Champion Penguins, after a hard fought seven game battle with Washington, swept the Hurricanes with ease, propelling themselves back to the finals. The Wings, in my opinion, have had the tougher road getting to the finals. Detroit squeaked past the Ducks in the second round with a 4-3 win in game seven and had three overtime games against the Blackhawks which ended in five.
The biggest factor in this series has to be age. The Penguins are led by the 2 best offensive players in hockey, Sidney Crosby (age 21) and Evgeni Malkin (22). Pittsburgh also has a great young goalie in Marc-Andre Fluery (24). Detroit has pretty much the same team as last year's Cup winning team. They are a team comprised of old veterans that know how to win playoff hockey games. The major problem the Wings are dealing with is that their age is catching up with them and they are starting to break down physically.
Detroit, who won in six games last year against Pittsburgh, is looking to become the first NHL team with back-to-back championships since the Red Wings did in 1997 and 1998 with several of the same players. The Wings, who have won four titles in the last 11 seasons, are built on a foundation experienced (or old) players such as captain Nicklas Lidstrom (39), Tomas Holmstrom (36), Kris Draper (38), and Kirk Maltby (36). But Detroit does have some "younger" players in Pavel Datsyuk (30) and Henrik Zetterberg (28), the two led the team in scoring in the regular season. Not to mention the raised from the dead goaltender Chris Osgood (36 years young) who has come back from obscurity to have a good playoffs.
The banged-up Red Wings expect to have Lidstrom back on the blue line Saturday night after he was forced to sit out the last two games against Chicago because of an undisclosed lower-body injury, who do they think they are the Patriots. Draper, sidelined for all but four games during the postseason, should also return along with defenseman Jonathan Ericsson just a few days removed from surgery following an appendicitis. Datsyuk is still the biggest question mark, will be a game-time decision. The Red Wings clearly could have used more time off, but now face playing four games in six nights and five in eight, advantage Pittsburgh. My prediction for the series is Penguins will win the Cup at home in Game 6 dashing the hopes of another Detroit repeat.
Hockey Note: Red Wings forward Marian Hossa will be playing in second straight Cup Finals. Last year he was a late season acquisition by the Penguins and helped them to the Finals against Detroit. Hossa decided to turn down an offer from the Penguins in the off-season and sign with more experienced Wings team at a lower salary. Now he faces his old team. Karma?
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