Detroit Red Wings Rolling

The Detroit Red Wings absolutely manhandled the Colorado Avalanche in a four game sweep of the Western Conference Semi-Final, much to the surprise of ESPN analyst and former NHL coach Barry Melrose.

Melrose had predicted an Avalanche victory in a six game series because of the "superior" goaltending of Jose Theodore.

Please.

I was lucky enough to attend games one and two of the series, and from my vantage point, it was no contest. The Wings dominated in almost every facet of the game, chasing Jose Theodore from the net in three of the four games.

I'll give the Avs a bit of a break, since they seemed to be playing with half a team. But make no mistake: the Wings won this series; the Avs did not lose it.

The Wings appear to be well-primed for a longer playoff run than they had last year.  Although the Nashville Predators gave the Wings a scare in round one, they have had a less physically grueling run this year than last year.

By the time the Wings met the Anaheim Ducks in last year’s conference final, they had survived two tough six-game series against the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks. While they have not been tested physically so far in this playoff round, that will almost certainly change when they meet the Dallas Stars.

After making a huge splash at the trade deadline by acquiring former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brad Richards, the Stars appeared to be set for a run to top spot in the Western Conference.

But a hot Sharks team, combined with a slump from the Stars, dropped Dallas from second place in the conference to fifth by the time the regular season ended, setting up a first round date with the defending champion Ducks.

The Stars weren’t given much of a chance against the Ducks, but they managed to up-end Anaheim in six games.

The Sharks awaited the Stars in the second round, where they again were the underdogs. But once again, they outplayed the Sharks and won the series in six hard-fought games, four of which went to overtime, including a quadruple OT thriller to close out the series.

The Stars have been getting important contributions from Brendan Morrow, who has made Dave Tippett’s decision to make him captain seem like a genius move; Mike Ribeiro, who leads the Stars in playoff scoring; and goaltender Marty Turco, who is playing arguably the best hockey of his career.

From the tone of this article so far, you might think I’m picking the Stars to take this series.

Not so fast.

First off, I live and die with the Wings, so picking against them would be blasphemous. Secondly, I truly believe that the Wings are the better team, and are going to win this series, rose-colored glasses aside.

I like Sergei Zubov, but the Wings' defense is far superior to the Stars'. Lidstrom. Rafalski. Stuart. Kronwall. Compare this to last year when the Wings top four D-men against Anaheim were Lidstrom, Chelios, Markov, and Lebda.

It should make a considerable difference.

The play of Chris Osgood, while not spectacular, has been steady and has been consistent enough that he hasn’t lost the Wings any games. In fact, he hasn’t lost at all since taking over for Dominik Hasek against the Preds.

Much will be made about the play of Pavel Datsyuk and Hank Zetterberg, which has been well-documented, but the secondary scoring is what gives the Wings the edge.

As I've seen written elsewhere, Jiri Hudler was bouncing in and out of the lineup during last year’s playoffs. Valtteri Filppula has improved. Johan Franzen has been a revelation, scoring 26 goals in his last 26 games. And Dan Cleary is a much better player than he was last year.

The experience of getting to the Western Conference Final last year did wonders for this crop of Red Wings, and should give them an edge against the Stars.

I believe that the Wings will win this series against the Stars in six games. Dallas is too talented to be swept, but not talented enough to beat the Wings four times in seven games. It’s going to be a battle, but one the Wings should be able to pull out.