2008 Stanley Cup Playoff Previews: Round Three

Eastern Conference


(2) Pittsburgh (47-27-8, 102 pts)



(6) Philadelphia (42-29-11, 95 pts)

RESULTS OF 2007-2008 REGULAR SEASON MEETINGS

DATE     SCORE                 
NOV.  7  PHILADELPHIA 3 AT PITTSBURGH 1
NOV. 10  PITTSBURGH 2 AT PHILADELPHIA 5
DEC. 11  PITTSBURGH 2 AT PHILADELPHIA 8
JAN. 24  PITTSBURGH 3 AT PHILADELPHIA 4
FEB. 10  PHILADELPHIA 3 AT PITTSBURGH 4
MAR. 16  PHILADELPHIA 1 AT PITTSBURGH 7
APR.  2  PHILADELPHIA 2 AT PITTSBURGH 4
APR.  6  PITTSBURGH 0 AT PHILADELPHIA 2

                          
           GP  W  L OTL  GF GA PTS
PITTSBURGH       8  3  5   0  23 28  6
PHILADELPHIA     8  5  3   0  28 23 10

         -POWER PLAY-  ---SHORT HANDED---
         PP GF   PP%   TS GA   PK%  GF GA
PITTSBURGH    40  9  22.5%  46 11  76.1%  1  0
PHILADELPHIA  46 11  23.9%  40  9  77.5%  0  1

The Battle of Pennsylvania will happen after all.

In the final game of the regular season Ottawa coach/GM Bryan Murray insisted the Pittsburgh Penguins tanked their final game in order to play Ottawa as opposed to cross-state rival Philadelphia.

Murray was clearly trying to manufacturing stories there, but now fans do get to watch these two bitter rivals go at it. This could be physical war.

Pittsburgh has to be the favorite here. Marc Andre Fleury has been amazing in net all spring. The Pens' blue liners continue to play far better than I expected. The team has really bought in to coach Michel Therrien's game plan. And they have the deepest set of forward lines in the league, headlined, of course, by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Those two players' lines come out wave after wave. If you survive a shift against Crosby, out comes Malkin, Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone, and I think they've been the better of the two this spring. Even if you survive the Malkin attack, well out comes Crosby again! And the Jordan Staal line is contributing nicely, especially defensively. And even the fourth line looks strong every shift out.

The Flyers survived long periods of offensive attacks by Montreal in round three, thanks mainly to great goaltending from Martin Biron. If the Flyers play that way against the Pens, this could be a short series.

Prediction: Penguins in six


Western Conference


(1) Detroit (54-21-7, 115 pts)



(5) Dallas (45-30-7, 97 pts)

RESULTS OF 2007-2008 REGULAR SEASON MEETINGS

DATE     SCORE           
JAN.  2  DALLAS 1 AT DETROIT 4
JAN.  5  DETROIT 3 AT DALLAS 0
FEB. 17  DETROIT 0 AT DALLAS 1
MAR. 13  DALLAS 3 AT DETROIT 5

                              
              GP  W  L OTL  GF GA PTS
DETROIT            4  3  1   0  12  5  6
DALLAS             4  1  3   0   5 12  2

      -POWER PLAY-  ---SHORT HANDED---
      PP GF   PP%   TS GA   PK%  GF GA
DETROIT   15  1   6.7%  11  1  90.9%  0  0
DALLAS    11  1   9.1%  15  1  93.3%  0  0

The Dallas Stars, led by University of Michigan alumnus Marty Turco, meet the Detroit Red Wings in the Western finals.

Turco is, in most estimations, the best goaltender still playing. He's dismissed all previous accusations as a playoff flop. But Dallas does not necessarily have as big of an advantage as you might think. Chris Osgood, a former Stanley Cup champion, leads the league with a 1.52 goals-against average and a third-best .937 save percentage. Though I'm happy to see Osgood finally get some respect, goaltending will remain the Red Wings weak spot, at least until they win the Stanley Cup.

I like Turco in Dallas, and I've always been a huge fan of Sergei Zubov and Brendan Morrow. Mike Ribeiro amazingly has shaken his flake label and is a very dangerous player. Brad Richards has finally found a place in the lineup where he can excel. The Stars' no-name defense have performed fascinatingly well, with Trevor Daley and Stephane Robidas in particular impressive me.

On the other side is Detroit, the regular season champions with the best defenseman of his generation in Niklas Lidstrom and the dynamic duo of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. But they are all taking a back seat to a guy nicknamed Mule - Johan Franzen. This guy had an unreal round two against Colorado with 9 goals and 10 points in just 4 games. Zetterberg's incredible 5 goal, 9 point performance was downright overshadowed by that of Franzen's.

Honestly, I don't know who to take on this one. Flip a coin. I bet against the Stars in both round one and round two, so maybe I'll continue to be their good luck charm by betting against them again in round three. The Wings are healthy, rested and deep. Their top offensive players are both finalists for the top defensive player, which is symbolic of how complete so many of the Red Wing players are. Franzen has to cool off, but if they can continue to get some secondary scoring, I think Chris Osgood is good enough to get the Wings past Dallas.

Prediction: Red Wings in 6. All bets are off if Dominik Hasek gets back into the Detroit crease.