Can the Detroit Red Wings finally capitalize on winning the President's Trophy?
The Wings led the NHL in points for the third time in four seasons and the sixth time since 1995, but they lost to eighth-seeded Edmonton in the first round two years ago and have followed up a President's Trophy with a Stanley Cup only once.
Detroit begins its try for another Stanley Cup on Thursday night by hosting the Nashville Predators, against whom the Wings were 5-3-0 in the regular season. Detroit and Nashville have met once in the postseason, with the Red Wings defeated the Preds in six games during the 2004 conference quarterfinals.
The Wings are -260 money line favorites for Thursday's Game 1 on WagerWeb.com (over/under: 5 goals).
Pavel Datsyuk led the Red Wings with a career- high 97 points, also setting career bests with 31 goals and 66 assists. Henrik Zetterberg reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career (43 goals) and also notched a career-high 49 assists despite missing seven games this year due to back spasms.
Plus, the Wings are finally healthy. Mikael Samuelsson, who hasn't played in two weeks with a sore groin, took part in a full practice this week and declared himself fit to go. Defenseman Brad Stuart (broken finger) and forwards Kris Draper (groin) and Tomas Holmstrom (groin) also practiced and expect to play. Only forward Kirk Maltby (hamstring) is definitely ruled out.The Predators were hot down the stretch, going 5-0-1 to secure the last spot in the Western Conference playoffs. But the Preds have an untested playoff goalie in Dan Ellis.
He came out of nowhere to post a 23-10-3 record and led the league in save percentage (.924). He recently set a franchise record with a shutout streak of 233:39, but he's never appeared in a playoff game.
Nashville has two potent scoring lines and four players with more than 20 goals (J.P. Dumont, Jason Arnott, Alexander Radulov and Martin Erat), but the Predators' depth is depleted with injuries to David Legwand, Steve Sullivan and Martin Gelinas.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, will be relying on Dominik Hasek and his 115 games of playoff experience.
After successfully rotating Hasek and Chris Osgood, who helped Detroit give up the fewest goals this season, Detroit coach Mike Babcock plans to stick exclusively with the Dominator.
Osgood was an All-Star after going 20-3-2 with a 1.87 goals-against average in 25 games before the break, but went just 7-6-2 with a 2.46 GAA in 17 second-half games. Hasek (27-10-3, 2.14 GAA), meanwhile, ended up begin the more consistent of the two by posting a 2.12 GAA in the first half and a 2.20 GAA in the second.
"Dom is not going to struggle," said Babcock, attempting to shoot down a question about the possibility of playing Osgood.
Betting trends: Red Wings are 7-2 in their last 9 vs. Western Conference. ... Detroit is 7-2 in their last 9 overall. ... Detroit is 209-76-16 in their last 301 home games. ... Predators are 6-24-2 in the last 32 meetings in Detroit. ... Nashville is 3-9 in the last 12 meetings vs. Detroit.
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