Five For Chirping: F*** The Wings.

The problem in the first 3 games was that Dallas would send 2 forwards in deep to pressure the puck carrier, staggered by about 10-12 feet, leaving one forward in the neutral zone and the 2 defenseman at the blue line. Detroit countered this by keeping one forward circling near their blue line and the other forward either swooped back behind the net to gain momentum up the opposite wing or cutting through the slot to split the forecheckers in hopes one would bite and try to tail him. The end result if it worked were 3 VERY spaced out forecheckers and scads of room for a fast break, or as I like to call it, the Joe Louis Jumble.

By switching to a lone forechecker, they were able to keep 2 forwards posted staggered at the blue and red lines, meaning the striding decoy can't skate far without stretching the triangle too far and risking a home run pass being picked up by an alert forward. That drastically reduced the sloppy 2-on-1 chances that the Wings have made famous. Simply put, no action, no reaction.

So where does Pittsburgh fit into this strategy?

Well, the term is 'standing on the shoulders of giants'. Furthering one's own work by way of benefitting from the ability to dissect where others have failed, and Dallas ensured that games 4 and 5 were classroom worthy.

Dallas was only effective in a very limited sense because of one simple reason:Speed. Detroits fast breaks worked so well against Dallas, Colorado and Nashville because all 3 teams are anything but fleet-footed. Of the 3 teams, Dallas had the most speed with Richards, Hagman, Lundqvist and Modano to an extent, HOWEVER, they did not have any lines with 3 top speed threats, and it was always the slowest guy who provided the seam the Wings needed.

Pittsburgh has speed in spades, with Crosby, Malkin, Hossa, Staal, Sykora, Whitney, Malone and Kennedy all able to turn heads with their footwork to varying degrees. Man-on-man coverage works just slightly better when your boys can catch their boys...who'd have thunk it?

Goaltending in my opinion favours Pittsburgh for the fact that Fleury has stood on his head this post-season, in many instances being the sole reason the Pens stole certain games. Ditching the bright yellow pads and gloves dirtied by World Junior heartache seems to have exorcised the demons haunting the kid once thought to be a lost cause for the Pens, watching the resiliency of this kid in pulling himself back from a high ankle sprain when the Pens starting job all but seemed to belong to Ty Conklin in my opinion was an effort worthy of the Masterton.

Osgood has won a Cup with Detroit before yes, but that should not be confused with Osgood winning Detroit the Cup. I personally feel that Detroit hasn't had a 'good' goaltender since Tim Cheveldae befuddlingly pulled together 3 impressive seasons between 90/91 and 92/93 where he became 'the hardest working man in pro hockey'. Since then, Vernon, Osgood, Legace, Cujo and Hasek have all benefitted from a severe buckling down in their own end and have shown their mediocrity on teams with a less strigent defensive philosophy.

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