So, how about the Pens?

[kylee 727]

this is the biggest thing ive noticed about the Pens this year in general/play offs.

yes they have a great offense, but the Wings arent far behind them.

what is the rhetoric we always hear as sports fans? "defense wins championships"

i have no reason to believe it wont be the case here. i honestly do think the wings will win the stanley cup, but that doesn't mean i wont be nervous each and every game!

ps. also: crosby and malkin realllly seem to not like getting roughhoused. i mean its obvious that no star players really like to get nasty but its been noticeable to me. if they get slowed down, and on top of that hit at every chance. they both get frustrated.

[pghkid 0]

Wings' Advantages

- Puck-possession system (Preds, Avs, Stars knew what to expect. How will the Pens respond?)

- Two-way game (e.g., two biggest offensive threats are also up for the Selke)

- Transition game (i.e., puck-moving D)

- Team D

- Hank and Dats (each a more complete player than any player on the Pens)

- The Homer (and Mule *knock on wood*) factor (i.e., havoc in front of the net)

- The best top 4 in the league

- Experience

- Playing in the West (which, I'm sorry, is tougher than the East)

- Osgood (experience, playing the best hockey of his career, can more than hold his own against Fleury)

Pens' Advantages

- Crosby and Malkin (arguably more explosive than Hank and Dats)

- Offensive depth (I think ZDH is the best line on hockey, but I'm willing to concede the Pens' top 6 is scarier than the Wings')

- Power play (see "Offensive depth." Wings can't afford to go down a man as often as they did this past game, zebra conspiracy or not)

- No key injuries

- Enforcers

I'm liking the Wings in 5. The Wings just need to play their game, get early leads, and STAY OUT OF THE BOX. Getting Mule back would also help.

Can't wait for Saturday!

wings in 5? it took you 6 to get past nashville and dallas!

we own the west this year. we went 8-1-1 against the west BEFORE picking up hossa, gill and dupuis! its gonna be alot closer than what you guys think. i think its gonna go 7. cheers!

[reggiedunlop 0]

Crosby and Malkin and co. will get theirs, they are too good not to but we will expose their defense!!...

with all due respect my mo-town friend, expose what? we have a lower goals against team average than you :-).. i think our defense will be just fine....... but what worries me is HOW FAST your defense gets to the puck holder in your own end. you guys really smother fast. dallas was clueless last night.

should be a great series to watch

[Reds4Life 51]

with all due respect my mo-town friend, expose what? we have a lower goals against team average than you :-).. i think our defense will be just fine....... but what worries me is HOW FAST your defense gets to the puck holder in your own end. you guys really smother fast. dallas was clueless last night.

should be a great series to watch

Against who? Bad Ottawa team? Impotent Rags? Flyers minus 2 best dmans?

It does not matter. Previous stats do not matter.

You did not play us in year(s)..we will see what team is better.

[reggiedunlop 0]

We have too much defense for Pens to penetrate. Our offensive will capitalize on their weak defense and Fluey will see a Flurry of shots. This will wear them down and self destruct. They don't have leadership or experience to fight back from the adversity that Detroit impose.

our weak defense has a lower goals against team average than the wings....... check your stats before calling them weak ha ha......... good luck in finals...... should be a blast to watch

[kylee 727]

according to the Pens message board i now dont even understand why the Wings are even going to show up. lets just forfeit games 1-4.

[reggiedunlop 0]

Question: Is Gary Roberts hurt or something? I haven't heard nothing about him this playoffs and thats unusual cause he's like the definition of playoff performer.

gary roberts had a mild case of pneumonia

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

according to the Pens message board i now dont even understand why the Wings are even going to show up. lets just forfeit games 1-4.

LOL...according to this message board I could say the same about us......

Cmon...another teams board is ALWAYS going to predict big things for their team

Whats truly unique about this series is that the fan bases for each team really do not know too much about the other....

Should be a great series!

['33' 0]

according to the Pens message board i now dont even understand why the Wings are even going to show up. lets just forfeit games 1-4.

should be a good series. pittsburgh needs to win one of the two games in detroit, if not it could be a short series. i'm going with pittsburgh in 6.

your board is going to pick the wings to win, my board will pick the pens to win. that's just how it works.

i'm not going to come to your board as a panthers fan and tell you my team sucks and we're going to beat you. just like you're not going to come to my board and tell me that your team, phoenix, is going to beat my team. just isn't going to happen.

maybe you detroit fans can do us all a favor and sell out your friggen arena. it's embarrassing.

[reggiedunlop 0]

Interesting, so they are little babies with a temper? Fantastic. Did you tell Babs about this? Who would you pair with Draper to take on their second line? Mac has me worried being so slow and out of shape.

not sure how much you ACTUALLY watched the pens this season, but as someone who has watched nearly EVERY game, i assure you NEITHER crosby or malkin throw hissy fits when hit or held off the scoreboard....... crosby had 39 penalty minutes this season to malkins 78.......... does not sound like to much sin bin time to me

Edited May 20, 2008 by reggiedunlop

['33' 0]

Against who? Bad Ottawa team? Impotent Rags? Flyers minus 2 best dmans?

It does not matter. Previous stats do not matter.

You did not play us in year(s)..we will see what team is better.

Ottawa's top three match well with your top three, yes? Heatly, Alfie, and Spezza.

New York has a Vezina canidate, yes?

Philly has well, Philly sucks. But like Detroit, minus the superstars, they have/had depth. 3 legit scoring lines.

[Reds4Life 51]

Ottawa's top three match well with your top three, yes? Heatly, Alfie, and Spezza.

New York has a Vezina canidate, yes?

Philly has well, Philly sucks. But like Detroit, minus the superstars, they have/had depth. 3 legit scoring lines.

Alfredsson was injured. Ottawa was in trouble as the season ended.

Rangers have world class goalie, but the only players who played well against you were Jagr and Marc Staal.

Gomez pretty much choked. Drury was awful.

Philly sucked big time. They lost Timonen, Coburn. Big loss.

And Rangers killed themselves when they were unable to win game one. They had 3:0 lead. Awful team.

Previous stats are pointless. It will be tough series for sure. Can't wait to see it.

May the best team win!

Edited May 20, 2008 by Reds4Life

[kylee 727]

should be a good series. pittsburgh needs to win one of the two games in detroit, if not it could be a short series. i'm going with pittsburgh in 6.

your board is going to pick the wings to win, my board will pick the pens to win. that's just how it works.

i'm not going to come to your board as a panthers fan and tell you my team sucks and we're going to beat you. just like you're not going to come to my board and tell me that your team, phoenix, is going to beat my team. just isn't going to happen.

maybe you detroit fans can do us all a favor and sell out your friggen arena. it's embarrassing.

if your hockey sense is anything like your common sense i think you should go back to trolling your own board.

detroit is a great hockey town and despite your total ignorance of the real issues at to why detroit has a hard time selling out games the last year or so (im quite certain every game during the conference finals was sold out) but it seems like a nonsensical person like yourself doesn't really care about reality.

Edited May 20, 2008 by kylee

[va Winger 0]

wings in 5? it took you 6 to get past nashville and dallas!

we own the west this year. we went 8-1-1 against the west BEFORE picking up hossa, gill and dupuis! its gonna be alot closer than what you guys think. i think its gonna go 7. cheers!

You may have owned some of the West, but not the Wings. I encourage confidence, but their is such a thing as over-confidence too. I think maybe someone is looking at a wings team that they see as vulnerable. I would be very careful about taking this RW team for granted. I can guarantee you one thing...The Pens have yet to play a better, more experienced, more defensive , more hungry team this season. The names on your roster make no difference.......Your boys need to get ready......It's time for a schooling.................Wings in a sweep !

[Nightfall 871]

Alfredsson was injured. Ottawa was in trouble as the season ended.

Rangers have world class goalie, but the only players who played well against you were Jagr and Marc Staal.

Gomez pretty much choked. Drury was awful.

Philly sucked big time. They lost Timonen, Coburn. Big loss.

And Rangers killed themselves when they were unable to win game one. They had 3:0 lead. Awful team.

Previous stats are pointless. It will be tough series for sure. Can't wait to see it.

May the best team win!

Drury was banged up as well, which is why he had such a bad 2nd round series.

Still, you look at the Wings and I think they faced more adversity, but just a little bit more. In the end, you are right, previous stats are pointless. Its going to come down to who works harder. Who capitalizes on their opportunities and who takes advantage of the bounces they get. This series is going at least 6 games, and I would like to think that the Wings will be winning the cup. However, it would not surprise me if the Pens come out hungrier and beat the Wings in 6 games thats for sure.

['33' 0]

if your hockey sense is anything like your common sense i think you should go back to trolling your own board.

detroit is a great hockey town and despite your total ignorance of the real issues at to why detroit has a hard time selling out games the last year or so (im quite certain every game during the conference finals was sold out) but it seems like a nonsensical person like yourself doesn't really care about reality.

i don't think every conference final game was sold out, but if you say so. i'm not trolling, i came here for insight and discussion.

['33' 0]

May the best team win!

['33' 0]

It's time for a schooling.................Wings in a sweep !

with your economy, maybe you need to think about getting some schooling! no way either team sweeps..

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

You may have owned some of the West, but not the Wings. I encourage confidence, but their is such a thing as over-confidence too. I think maybe someone is looking at a wings team that they see as vulnerable. I would be very careful about taking this RW team for granted. I can guarantee you one thing...The Pens have yet to play a better, more experienced, more defensive , more hungry team this season. The names on your roster make no difference.......Your boys need to get ready......It's time for a schooling.................Wings in a sweep !

LOL...and this is not over confidence?

I can counter that you have not played a faster...more skilled....and completely team oriented defensive team like the Penguins all year either.

[va Winger 0]

with your economy, maybe you need to think about getting some schooling! no way either team sweeps..

economy ? Maybe in reference to the Detroit area? Possibly referring to my educational level ? I don't live there currently, but have many family members who do. This is a game , and that situation is a stark reality. I won't comment on that one.

I will say, however, I look forward to the Finals and may the best, most prepared team be victorious !

Red Wings fan for life !!!

[pghkid 0]

You may have owned some of the West, but not the Wings. I encourage confidence, but their is such a thing as over-confidence too. I think maybe someone is looking at a wings team that they see as vulnerable. I would be very careful about taking this RW team for granted. I can guarantee you one thing...The Pens have yet to play a better, more experienced, more defensive , more hungry team this season. The names on your roster make no difference.......Your boys need to get ready......It's time for a schooling.................Wings in a sweep !

i was just making the point that the west sucks just as bad as the east. it seems that most of the people around here think the east is weaker than the west. i thought the west was a joke when i watched us play against them this year.

so is your advice about "overconfidence" only directed toward those who aren't wings fans? because you contradict yourself..."wings in a sweep"

[dicksmack 33]

The Wings, as most talking heads are saying, are the clear favorites. Faceoffs are a playoff key as we know, and it's advantage Wings but we see the Pens scorers and raise them Selke nominees. Home ice advantage, tons of experience, great coaching/systems, physicality round things out. Goaltending looks pretty even. I think the Pens may have the better powerplay, but HDZ can get it done, and watch out for the second unit if Franzen returns.

[va Winger 0]

i was just making the point that the west sucks just as bad as the east. it seems that most of the people around here think the east is weaker than the west. i thought the west was a joke when i watched us play against them this year.

so is your advice about "overconfidence" only directed toward those who aren't wings fans? because you contradict yourself..."wings in a sweep"

Certainly, anyone who predicted his/her team to sweep in the Stanley Cup finals would be perceived as "overconfident". Realistically, I think this will be a great series, and I can't wait for it to get underway. When I stated sweep, I was simply stating the extreme in retort to the west sucks comment. Very difficult to judge a team you haven't played. Also remember that the Wings pretty much dominated those Western teams too...............

Clean slate - Hopes for a great series and may the Best team win!! ( I am biased and proud to be !)

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

Feel free to overlook our defensive excellence....everyone else has.....

Best GAA in the playoffs...and before you start in on who we have played....

Thw Wings have not exactly gone up against any offensively excellent teams (Nashville, Colorado, Dallas)

[toby91_ca 620]

ps. also: crosby and malkin realllly seem to not like getting roughhoused. i mean its obvious that no star players really like to get nasty but its been noticeable to me. if they get slowed down, and on top of that hit at every chance. they both get frustrated.

It's been noticeable to you? I doubt you've been watching then. Malkin I'll give you, he has seemed to get thrown of his game with that style of play (throw in a little dirtiness and it gets worse). Malkin ends up getting dirty himself in this type of game, similar to playing against Canada in the World Juniors. Haven't seen this side of him until these playoffs though.

In terms of Crosby, I'd almost say he enjoys it. I think for brief moments in time, he may get thrown off (a shift or two), but in general, I think it makes him play better. Philadelphia plays him more physcial/dirty than any other team and he plays best against them than any other team.

Here's my quick breakdown of how the teams measure up:

Offense - Pens

Defense - Wings (by a larger margin than the Pens edge on offense, but the Pens are not terrible by any means)

Special Teams - Slight edge to the Pens or a wash, pretty close, even though the Pens look better in the playoffs.

Goaltending - I think this is a wash, Fleury is more talented, but Osgood is more experienced, which is key, especially in the SCF

Faceoffs - Wings, by a landslide. The reason I bring this up is that I really think this is key. It is going to be difficult for the Pens to be starting almost every play without the puck.

I said it last week when this looked to be the matchup, I think the Wings experience will be the deciding factor. I think both teams and fans have a reason to be confident, but I think it would be silly for either side to overlook the opponent. I would think this would be a longer series, but that doesn't mean one side couldn't finish it off in 4 or 5.