Coming off an unforgettable sweep against long time rival Colorado, the Red Wings have a huge advantage coming in fresh against Dallas Thursday night.
Every game in the Dallas/San Jose series were hard fought, long drawn out games. Dallas winning the series in game six in the 4th OT!! They have to be tired, strained, and beat up, after playing vs. a big Sharks team.
In my opinion, I would rather have the Stars than the Sharks. I would feel more confident playing the Stars. First - because we have beaten the Stars every time with our starting goaltenders. Second - because the Wings are running on all cylinders right now. Third - because the Stars are not going to try and beat on all of the Wings talent as previous teams attempted. The Stars will play hard and there will be a good deal of contact, but there size is relatively similar to the size of the Wings... That should work out nicely for the well rested Wings team.
The Wings come into the series with a prior 3-1 advantage over the Stars from the regular season, which might play a key role if the Wings come out very strong in the first game. It will put Dallas back on their heels just as Colorado looked coming from not having beat the Red Wings at all the entire season.
Of the regular season games, The only Dallas win was a 1-0 shutout for Marty Turco. Jimmy Howard played in the Wings net for this game, which says quite a bit considering Chris Osgood will likely be playing. He did not lose to Dallas in the two games he started.
The Wings have to score early and really get Turco off of his usual game. Coming off a 61 save final game of their series really shows that he can stand up and take the team to victory. If the Wings can find the back of the net, like they did in game 4 vs. Colorado, it will greatly sustain their momentum from the sweep.
Osgood will also have to come to play. His calm, confident play not only helps him, it also brings the best out of the Wings. They also feel that way when playing in front of him.Also, with a lot of dangerous shooters on the Stars, he will be tested.
My favorite player from Dallas, Mike Ribeiro, is having an outstanding year and will be a critical part to any success they could have against the Wings. Not to mention Michigan's own Mike Modano, captain Brendan Morrow, defenseman Sergei Zubov, and newly acquired Brad Richards are having solid postseasons.Unfortunately for Dallas, these key players have not produced much against Detroit this year.
In Detroit's three wins against Dallas this season, they outscored them 12-4. The best would be arguably the Dominik Hasek's 3-0 shutout in January
Detroit's most valuable players against Dallas in the regular season were Pavel Datsyuk, Valteri Filppula, and Niklas Lidstrom. They all managed five points. Three other Red Wings have 4 points.
The Wings' depth helps me believe they are true contenders.
First game Thursday night in Hockeytown at 7:30... Finally home from college to watch in Full HD. Can't wait!!
Comments and input encouraged.
comments (2) write a comment »
write a new comment
5 months ago
Nice article !! Not to take anything away from the Wings but the Avs team they faced in the last round looked more like an average AHL squad. When David Jones (who??) leads your team in minutes played it's going to be a given the Avs were in trouble. They would have been hard pressed to match the Wings with all hands on deck let alone the likes of Stastny, Smyth, Wolski, Clark, Leopold, Forsberg, an injured Hannan all injured at some point. The only time the Wings have been tested was in the first round. When the series was tied 2-2 Scott Nichol went down. Game 5 David Legwand went out with an ankle injury & minutes before the start of game 6 Arnott went out with a mild concussion after taking a Chelios slapper in the back of his noggin. The Preds top 3 centers were out of the line-up for the decisive game. to put in perspective it would be like Detroit losing Datsyuk, Franzen & Draper..ouch. Nonetheless Detroit is well rested but haven't been truly tested yet. Dallas will challenge them physically & will need Turco to be their best player if they have any chance.
from 5 months ago
thanks for the comment, and yes i wrote this quite early this morning a little tired and forgot that i wanted to point out how the Avs injuries were a definite factor in the sweep, but the Wings know all too well what its like to play down their critical players. Thank god they are healthy for the most part and hopefully they stay that way. It has just been such a disappointment in the last few years having the Wings with such stellar season's then get bumped in the first round... then again the teams went to the finals each year if i do recall.
write a new comment