| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Guest4680 |
Posted - 05/22/2008 : 19:02:44
Michel Therrien has assessed that his Penguins deserved to win approximately 95 percent of the 12 playoff games they've captured on the way to the Stanley Cup final, which sounds about right.
The Detroit Red Wings, likewise, are a most deserving participant.
In the event there is even a hint of doubt about what Detroit has done this postseason based on the Red Wings not having had to play Anaheim or San Jose on the way to hockey's grandest stage, consider the postgame assessment of Dallas coach Dave Tippett on Monday night after the Red Wings had eliminated the Stars.
"Let's not kid ourselves -- they won the Presidents' Trophy for a reason," Tippett said. "They have three players (who) are certainly top 10 in the world in (Henrik) Zetterberg, (Pavel) Datsyuk and (Nicklas) Lidstrom. Their supporting cast, their coaching staff does a fabulous job of bringing all that talent together. They have two veteran goaltenders that could go either way. They're a very strong hockey team.
"At the end of the regular season, they were a team that, if somebody would have come to me and said who do you think is the favorite -- other than ourselves -- I would have looked at them. A, from a coaching standpoint, how I look at them, how they play, and B, the talent, not just the talent and the skill, but how hard they compete.
"I knew going into it they were going to be a hard opponent. We held out hope that we beat a hard opponent in Anaheim, and we beat a hard opponent in San Jose, and we were trying our (hardest) to beat a hard opponent in Detroit. We came up a little short."
That's a mouthful, all right, but much more spot-on than it is exaggerated.
But if that's the case, why weren't more of those who were asked to handicap the postseason trumpeting Detroit?
It's easy to forget on the eve of what should be a series to remember, but San Jose was more of a buzz team in the West than Detroit prior to the start of all of this.
Could goaltending have been the reason?
The Red Wings have already benched the guy who was supposed to be their guy, Dominik Hasek.
Chris Osgood has since performed like the Stanley Cup champion he was back in 1998, but that doesn't make him any less of a variable entering the final.
Osgood might be a Hall of Famer someday. But he also might be the second-best goaltender in this series.
Marc-Andre Fleury cannot yet claim superiority, but he'll have a chance to make an unimpeachable argument beginning Saturday night.
If he plays as he has to this juncture about 95 percent of the time, the Penguins will win it in six
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