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The Penguins, hockey and more, by the PG's Seth Rorabaugh. |
(3) Red Wings vs. (6) Coyotes
Red Wings Leading Regular Season Scorer: Henrik Zetterberg, 80 points (24 goals, 56 assists).
Coyotes Leading Postseason Scorer: Shane Doan, 60 points (20 goals, 40 assists).
Red Wings Regular Season Statistics
Coyotes Regular Season Statistics
Red Wings with Stanley Cup bling: Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen (right), Darren Helm, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Kronwall, Nicklas Lidstrom, Drew Miller, Mike Modano, Chris Osgood (3), Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Henrik Zetterberg.
Coyotes with Stanley Cup bling: Ilya Bryzgalov, Ray Whitney.
Something worthwhile about the Red Wings: The Red Wings are the NHL's oldest team with and average age of 31.8..Something worthwhile about the Coyotes: The Coyotes has yet to win a playoff series since moving to Phoenix.
Something useless about the Red Wings that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Former Penguins defenseman Paul Coffey holds the Red Wings franchise record for assists in a playoff series. He recorded nine against the Maple Leafs in a 1993 Norris Division semifinal.
Something useless about the Coyotes that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Rick Tocchet holds the Coyotes/Jets franchise record for consecutive playoff game with a point. He scored in six consecutive contests during the 1998 postseason.
Former Penguins on the Red Wings: None.
Former Penguins on the Coyotes: Paul Bissonnette, LW; Michal Rozsival, D; Ulf Samuelsson, associate coach; Dave Tippett, head coach.
Who needs to be the difference for the Red Wings: Johan Franzen. He always seems to step it up a few notches this time of year. And with Zetterberg expected to miss a handful of games to start the postseason, Franzen will be relied on even more to carry Detroit's offense.
Who needs to be the difference for the Coyotes: Ilya Bryzgalov (above). He means everything to the Coyotes. Considering Phoenix scored the same amount of goals as it allowed this season (226), the Coyotes get engaged in a lot of tight games. Brzygalov will have to steal some goals and games for his team pull this out.
Best Red Wings YouTube Video We Could Find: Former Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov doing what pretty much the rest of humanity wanted to do with former Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux during the 1996 Western Conference Final:
Best Coyotes YouTube Video We Could Find: We all need some Vitamin J:
EN Prediction: This series could go either way. Mainly because of Bryzgalov. He offers the Coyotes a chance to pull off an upset on any team. But ultimately, the Red Wings' combination of experience and skill will win this series for them. Red Wings 4-3.
(Photos: Franzen-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Bryzgalov-Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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