the 4th star

They say you can never go back. That’s what they say.

I say, what better way to set up another round of Stanley Cup Final action between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings by doing just that — going back to the archives to see what I said about these teams a year ago. For starters, let’s take a walk down memory lane with some series set-up. Remember this? Or this? Neither do I, and I wrote the damn things! Here’s another one from an old, infrequent contributor who called himself ‘The Clarkitect.’ His thoughts on how the National Hockey League lucked out with a dream series a year ago makes for an interesting read this time around.

However, this can’t and won’t happen every year because there is only one dream scenario. And when you and your buddies look back at pictures of the ’08 cup finals you’ll fondly remember a time when the stars aligned and the NHL displayed the best it could muster. And you’ll say, “…and remember the next year when Atlanta and Edmonton ended up meeting in the finals, that’s when the league really died.”

Did he actually predict an Edmonton-Atlanta final? No wonder he moved away.

Back to the future, the last line in my prediction for the original Pens-Wings applies directly to the current version that’s going to get underway tonight. Let’s not over-think things here: Detroit’s depth is going to be a problem for Pittsburgh, as the stars cancel each other out and leave the pluggers to find a goal or two in even-man situations. Getting Lidstrom back is huge. No. 5 will be able to shut down one of Crosby and Malkin, which is the best case scenario for any club playing the Penguins. As they proved against Washington, the Penguins defence is up for a challenge, but I wonder how they’ll be able to handle the physicality of guys like Franzen, Holmstrom, and Cleary. As for Osgood and Fleury, who knows what they’ll come up with? I expect some goals to be scored, but Osgood will be the X-factor for the Red Wings. He shakes off bad goals better than anyone, which is guess is a testament to how many bad goals he’s let in over the years.

How close are these teams in terms of raw talent? How banged up are the Red Wings? How many lessons did Crosby and Malkin learn last spring? How much money did Ray Shero borrow from Mario Lemieux to put on the board to motivate his troops against Hossa? How many of you knew the title of this post was from Detroit Rock City? How many different wind breakers does Mike Ilitch own? How many times will I bring up my S.H.D.E. victory? Answers to these questions will come as the series moves along here. Until then (and like last spring), I’ll take the Red Wings in seven games again — with wins in the final two to take the Stanley Cup.

Again.