Not Qualified To Comment » Holy Crap, It’s Detroit vs. Chicago

Holy Crap, It’s Detroit vs. Chicago

May 16, 2009 at 4:58 pm | Chicago Blackhawks, NHL
By: StevieY19

Well it’s really going to happen. The team I’ve followed, written about, and cheered for (most of the time) this year against the team I’ve always loved and cheered for. Normally I would be upset about this match-up, but this is great for hockey and great for both teams.

Not only is it a throwback to a premier sports rivalry, but these are two of the teams to watch for years to come. You have the Red Wings, who do the best scouting in the league and have shown the ability to reload over and over, and the Hawks with some of the league’s best young talent. Some have dubbed it the gray beards vs. the no beards.

Another plus is that these are undoubtedly the teams in the West playing the best hockey right now. They are 1 and 2 in power play percentage in the playoffs, with the Hawks leading the way. The Blackhawks have the advantage of being the young guys who have no expectations, while the Wings bring the experience and, well, they’re really really good.

All of the ESPN “experts” picked Detroit. Most of the media is following suit, thinking the Hawks have to wait their turn. It feels a little like Bulls-Pistons of the early 90’s to me. So what are the keys to the series?

Nikolai Khabibulin made some big saves in the Vancouver series, including one of the best I’ve seen in a long time in Game 6, but he wasn’t the reason the Hawks won that series. If Khabibulin gets in the zone, the Hawks have a real shot at this thing.

The Wings won the season series 4-2, but the Hawks won the last two and may have some momentum here. Neither team has serious injury issues. Tomas Kopecky is out for Detroit, but the Hawks have nothing new to report as Duncan Keith is fine after taking a stick to the face and getting seven stitches.

Lots of pressure on Niklas Hjalmarsson, Matt Walker, Cam Barker, and Brian Campbell this round. Unlike the Flames and Canucks who featured one amazing line, the Red Wings scoring is much more balanced and they bring all-star talent on at least three lines. The Blackhawks also have more depth than anyone Detroit has seen thus far. While Lidstrom will make life difficult for Kane and Toews, Stuart and Kronwall are prone to the occasional mistake and it will be important for Chicago to capitalize on those miscues.

It will be interesting to see what kind of style is played this series. The Hawks have preferred a wide open style in the playoffs, and the Wings are more comfortable than Vancouver or Calgary with that style. The Wings would probably do well to slow things down a bit in terms of crimping the Hawks’ style, but they could very well open it up, because that’s how the Wings flourish too. It could be a very exciting and high scoring series.

Another interesting tidbit is former Red Wings coach, hall of famer Scotty Bowman. He has been a part of the Hawks front office for a while now and it’s hard to find someone more loved and respected in Detroit than the ice chomping coach that led the Wings to Stanley Cups.

This is it, the series starts Sunday afternoon in Detroit and will be on NBC at 2:00 CT. Of course I won’t be able to see it, so I’m contemplating easy ways to commit suicide, but don’t miss it. Prediction? Wings in 6.