Or, maybe even since Yzerman, Federov, and Larionov centered the Wings to 3 Cups.

I don’t get the arguments about Pittsburgh being so productive.  Granted they have many great stars that have produced a lot of points, but look at who they’ve played:  Ottawa, the absolute worst team to even make it into the playoffs, and had been imploding for months; New York, whose only concept of defense seemed to be “let Lunqvist handle it”; and Philadelphia, arguably much better than the other two, but still not top-caliber defensively, especially without their top defenseman, out with an injury.

Contrast this with Detroit’s production, just a shade under Pittsburgh’s, who played the following:  Nashville, with the “hottest goaltender in the playoffs” going into the series and a very impressive defensive core; Colorado, with the “hottest goaltender in the playoffs” going into the series, but admittedly many injuries; and Dallas, with the “hottest goaltender in the playoffs going into the series” and a remarkable defensive core.  And now who do they play?  Oh yeah, Pittsburgh, with the “hottest goaltender in the playoffs”...I see a trend here.

C’mon, you have to admit Scotty Blindside has a good point (other than the one on his head). The Wings only have Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Draper, Filppula, (hopefully) Franzen, Helm, and—in a pinch—Hudler or Cleary to choose from at center. Those guys suck!

The Wings take the edge or are equal in every matchup, except for the second line matchup. Even with Franzen back, on paper, you have to give the nod to the Pens second line. If they can exploit that, it will keep us on the stress train.

The hope would be that the massive disparity in the two defense corps would more than make up for their advantage with the second lines.

The hope would be that the massive disparity in the two defense corps would more than make up for their advantage with the second lines.

FYI, I’m a big Pens fan.  I was thinking also about the disparity, on paper, between the two D-corps, but the Pens D-men have played surprisingly well throughout the playoffs, and guys that you wouldn’t expect to make timely plays have been doing so.  Obviously, the Wings still have the edge defensively, but I think it may be a little closer than it looks on paper…