Hi, longtime Penguins fan here - going back to the 1974-75 season. Way back them the Penguins and Red Wings were both in the Norris Division, along with Montreal, Los Angeles and Washington.
My late uncle was in the Air Force - the last place he was stationed was Selfrige - and he stayed in the Detroit area (Mt. Clemens) after his discharge. He became a passionate Red Wings fan, I remember him telling me about seeing games in the old Olympia Stadium.
The best hockey fight I ever saw - that Friday night in February 1994, when McSorley and Probert went at it for what seemed like half an hour. Great fight!
The Western Conference is generally considered to be the better conference. Nevertheless, the best division is likely the Atlantic Division - four Atlantic teams made the playoffs.
The Penguins overcame a bunch of adversity (yeah, a tired old sports cliche) this year. Crosby and Fleury missed a lot of the season. Yet, the rest of the team stepped it up and the Pens are one game away from the Finals.
Detroit has the experience. Pittsburgh has a s**tload of desire. May the better team win (if the Pens sweep - I think it's a given Detroit will dispatch the South Stars).
FWIW - the official Penguins message board is permeated with a bunch of puckbunnies and early twentysomethings who waste bandwidth bickering at each other. The threatened move of the Penguins and the arena troubles (both since resolved) led to a lot of frayed nerves and a lot of people just haven't got over it all yet.
