Wings/Pens 2

Well, the Stanley Cup Finals are set, with Darren Helm’s OT winner –and ridiculous single handed penalty kill in the 3rd, wow– the Wings will be hosting the Pens in Game 1, set to begin Saturday at 8pm on NBC. This repeat of last year is going to be a repeat in name only, as the Pens are more experienced, and Osgood isn’t as good as he was last year (but still pretty good in a big spot). Crosby and Malkin are red hot, and should be able to match the Zetterberg/Datsyuk combo goal for goal.

This series comes down to secondary scoring. Can Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin beat out Jiri Hudler, Johan Franzen and the other Swedes? Can the Rafalski outscore Gonchar? Those are the keys to the series. Everything else is roughly evenly matched, even with a slight edge to the Pens (Fleury > Osgood).

This will be wildly entertaining. I think it goes to 7 games, hopefully with the Wings repeating. I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach Cindy raising the Cup.