Red Wings-Penguins Repeat With A Twist

This is how the Gretzky-Messier Oilers looked before knocking off the Islanders in the early 80s. So the rested Pittsburgh Penguins with a year of Stanley Cup Finals experience, Sidney Crosby, a new coach, hot goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and a charged up Evgeni Malkin will again take on the Detroit Red Wings, this time looking for a better result.

The Wings could point to the fact that Marian Hossa is on their team this year and that those that call them old haven’t heard of Justin Abdelkader (22), Vallteri Filppula (25), Darren Helm (22) or Jiri Hudler (25). Detroit could also defer to their injuries to superstars Niklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk or key contributors Kris Draper and Jonathan Ericsson if they were looking for excuses. Pittsburgh isn’t counting any of those guys out and they paid close attention to Detroit’s depth as they dispatched the young and talented Chicago Blackhawks in five games.

The Wings won three overtimes to move past Chicago, and Pittsburgh sees that as a window for their opportunity. They played the Wings tightly last year after falling behind 2-0 and eventually losing the series at home 4 games to 2. Head-to-head in 2008-09 regular season, the Pens took a 7-6 overtime game in November in Detroit and dropped a 3-0 tilt in February in the Igloo. It all gets underway in Detroit on Saturday at 8:00 with NBC and Pittsburgh hoping to cash in on the momentum and Detroit hoping to heal.