Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!
(I'm joking, you played it for 1000000 years...)
detroit will win in 5 games... heres why. 1st, Detroit's offense is equal or better than pittsburgh, they all both have plenty of star offensive players and secondary scorers but detroit has more. Filpula, Franzen, Draper, Maltby, Hudler, and more. Another difference is their forwards are all accountable and reliable defensively. I believe detroit has 4 forwards that have been nominated for the selke (best defensive forward) zetterberg, datsyuk, maltby and draper. I believe pittsburgh has only 1 player (stall) who has ever even close to getting nominated. Those two pairings at even strength will be able to shut down or significantly limit pittsburghs top 2 lines. These lines also put a lot of of pucks in the net and get key goals. Therien will soon be forced to get creative with his lines and be forced to change constantly on the fly in order to try to get crosby's line away from zetterbergs as detroit will love that matchup. Detroit is also the best puck possession team in the league so these guys will be forcing the big lines to do a lot of skating. Detroit only struggles and gets beat if the team plays too physical for them. Pitts has some physical players but I dont think they have enough so the game will likely fall into a finess series, which plays into puck possession which detroit owns at. Add in the fact that detroit is the best faceoff team in the league and pitts is the worst only helps detroits cause even more. Those offensive shutdown people does give them a ridiculous PK so i think pitts PP wont dominate either.
Now the D. Detroits D is the best in the league, only Anaheims D is even close. They are smart, quick, versatile. I truly believe that anyone on Detroits D would find themselves in the top pairing on PItts. Also with it being a speed game some of the pitts D are just big and slow. Put them in a skill game and they will get exposed.
Now goalies, sure fleury has played well so far I give him credit. and yes he is older than those world junior days. But hes still a flake until he truly steals a couple games, which i have to say he hasnt really had to do yet. But hey he did look ridiculous in that world juniors before he choked in the gold medal game. Osgood is proven and a veteran with big game experience and RINGS!
The west is a way stronger conference this year, but I have to say neither team was fully tested because every team they played had key injuries, or just exhausted. I said this before the playoffs and will say it again, the only way a team from the east will win is if the team from the west comes in completely beaten down from the war in the western conference. Detroit's only injury is to franzen but he will probably be back for this series
Also for the record I am not a fan of either team, but I have to say I will admit that I am biased because I have never been a pittsburgh fan and stevie Y is from my hometown, and i am not a fan of crosby.
West coast of what? Lake Champlain?
I actually live on the west coast... dont insult it by putting the wings there..