Miss any action in the last round? Heres the best of the Round 3.
2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs:
#2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #1 Detroit Red Wings
For the third consecutive year in arrow, the two Stanley Cup Finalists did not play each other in the regular season. In fact, the last time these two teams played, Evgeni Malkin wasn’t even in the lineup…things are going to be a bit different now. Detroit returns to the finals for the 23rd time in its storied history, the second most in NHL history. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is trying to become the second team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup in the team’s first three Stanley Cup Finals. They won back-to-back cups in 1991 and 1992, which is also the last time the Penguins have been to the Cup Finals. While both teams come in on fire, the Red Wings have posted a 12-4 record and Pittsburgh has posted an even better record at 12-2, only one can come out on top and be declared the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion.
Defense wins Championships. Such a common saying is so true, which is why this is point number one. Pittsburgh boasts a superstar veteran in Sergei Gonchar and much young talent in Ryan Whitney, Rob Scuderi, and Kris Letang. So far in the playoffs, these four have posted an outstanding +/- rating of +27. Meanwhile, Detroit has future Hall of Famers in Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios, not to mention Niklas Kronwall who leads all defensemen in points in the playoffs. Pittsburgh’s defense has only contributed 25 points to the team while Detroit’s defense has posted 37 points. But when you look at a team’s defense, you must look at the forwards as well, which is where the Red Wings really take the edge. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are nominated for the Selke Trophy, the top defensive forward. These two players also lead the playoffs in +/- rating, +12 and +15 respectively. Johan Franzen, another Detroit forward, is third in the playoffs with a +9 rating. Compare this to the Penguins’ superstars in Crosby (+6) and Malkin (+5), Detroit takes the edge in team defense..jpg)
The last line of defense is always the goaltender. Playing for Pittsburgh is Marc-Andre Fleury who has been on fire since returning from injury in early January. He continues to lead the playoffs with a .938 save percentage and play with a lot of confidence even though these are his second ever Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is also second in GAA allowing 1.70 a game, but only to the man at the other end of the rink. Chris Osgood is back in a Red Wings uniform where he won two Stanley Cups in the late 90s. He leads the playoffs with a 1.60 GAA and has been stellar after taking over for Detroit. Advantage: Detroit again. Osgood has the experience of previous Cup Finals and has been there before. Almost nothing will rattle him and he will play like always, calm cool, and collected. Come on, did you see the interview after Ribeiro slashed him?
Finally we get to the men (and boys) that may take over these Stanley Cup Finals by storm, the forwards. Detroit boasts at least two of the top four forwards in the game in Zetterberg and Datsyuk, who are tied first and tied third respectively in playoff scoring. They also have Tomas Holmstrom who is the best forward in the game at what he does, screen the goalies. Johan Franzen might be the second best, so the Pittsburgh defense will have a tough time with them. Jiri Hudler has even stepped up in the playoffs, but beyond that, the secondary scoring for the Red Wings is sporadic. Pittsburgh has the edge offensively by a decent margin. Crosby, Malkin, and Hossa each have 19+ points in the playoffs and Ryan Malone isn’t far behind. The Penguins also can roll all four lines and get scoring out of each one of them better than Detroit can. Detroit’s defense will always have to be on alert, because the Pens can come at them from all angles. Now we move onto the little things that matter. First off is Detroit’s dominance in the faceoff circle. Kris Draper and Henrik Zetterberg lead the playoffs in faceoff wins and percentage. Datsyuk and Filppula also are reliable on faceoffs, and all four have a better winning percentage than Pittsburgh’s top four faceoff men.
Winning faceoffs leads to Detroit’s huge advantage in puck control. The Red Wings like to play with the puck in the opposing team’s zone and everywhere else as well. It doesn’t matter, as long as they have the puck. Malkin, Crosby, and Hossa may be able to score lots of goals, but not when Detroit has the puck the entire time.
One thing I’ve noticed while watching the Penguin’s playoff games is that they don’t take losing very well. At the end of both losses in the playoffs, they have started fights. In game three against the Rangers, it was specifically Malkin involved. Crosby also got into it with Richards at the end of game three against the Flyers. If Detroit can play keep away from them and rough them a up a bit, I like Detroit’s chances to shut the big three down.
One more side note: Nicklas Lidstrom can become the first Swedish born Captain to win the Stanley Cup in NHL history. Even though no Swede has ever done it before, I like the overall experience of the Red Wings much more.
My Pick: Red Wings in 5
Conn Smythe Update:
The leaders so far seem to be:
Chris Osgood (Det)
Henrik Zetterberg (Det)
Pavel Datsyuk (Det)
Johan Franzen (Det)
Nicklas Lidstrom(Det)
Marc-Andre Fleury (Pit)
Sdney Crosby (Pit)
Evgeni Malkin (Pit)
Marian Hossa (Pit)
Oh, and for the hell of it, Don Cherry:
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