Gotta pick the Wings

By tolerating some significant degree of interference, all hell has now officially broken loose with the marginal late hitting and the d-men holding up forecheckers after dumps. The refs have been calling the playoffs so damn unevenly that it has pretty much confused the players. And at some point, they blow big calls and then are hesitant to call another, or quick to whistle to even it out. In the end, the interference is with the officials, with the game, which left to its own devices, can be wonderful. But Bettman the puppeteer cannot resist. He is smarter than us and the rest of the league. I pray they stand aside for game 7.

It’s one thing to call the goalie int on Zetterberg, which was complete BS, but the same official who made that call behind the play, is later sanctimoniously down on one knee and pointing, definitively, confirming that he definitely saw the puck come over the blue line, offsides, by a ½ cm. Please. Go fuck yourself, Mr. Precision. Are we just looking for breaks in the action so as to insert commercials? If so, please just mandate stoppages, like the NBA and NFL do, and stop with the gerrymandering.

But there was a really amazing stretch of individual play at the end of the 2nd.

Pitt Stahl good – not just his goal – he laid some heavy checks. Talbot had a good stretch – Pitts getting good mileage out of their 3rd and 4th line tonight, at least minute wise. Zetterberg, Malkin and Datsyuk all made terrific indiv plays, with Malkin’s the most amazing with a great pass to Fedotenko followed by a crazy spin around, gather and shoot that Osgood stood up to. Crosby not impressing me that much, nor is Kunitz who has sort of disappearted. Guerin can still be dangerous, but also has seemed to mostly just muff chances. Gonchar has disappeared and LeTang suddenly seems much less dangerous.

Gill got schooled by Zetterberg on a near goal, but has been pretty rock steady vs Franzen – about the only guy I’ve seen who can handle him well. Also good on Holmstrom and even Helm. Don’t know if he’s available but he would make a good Flyer even if he’s at the end of his career.

Helm impresses the shit out of me.

I think Detroit wins in the end, helped, significantly, by having the last line change. Babcock was smart reuniting Datsyuk with Zetterberg, cuz it limited Pitt's ability to try to help Crosby by putting Malkin with him on occasion. Malkin was often kept off, and then got beaten up by the 2nd and 3rd lines.

But bottom line is both teams have players who are way overdue. For Pitts, its Crosby, Kunitz, Guerin, Gonchar, Satan, who have done little. Also surprised that Dupuis got marginalized (he was effective vs Flyers) and that Bylsma trotted out Sykora last game (injured again).

For Detroit, it's Franzen, Hossa, Holmstrom, Hudler that have been quiet. Pitts deserves a lot of credit for keeping Franzen and Holmstrom under control for the most part, but I think one of these guys are more likely to break through than any of the Penguins other than Crosby who looked discouraged last game, and didn't get any of the usual characteristic bounces.

Both teams have shown they can be offensively dangerous. Both goalies have made big saves to keep their team ahead or in the game. And so I think it will be decided by which team is willing to be aggressive and physical, and risk taking penalties in order to deliver big checks.

As such, keep an eye on these guys, as far as the intensity of their checking is concerned:

Pitt: Kunitz, Orpik, Cooke

Det: Franzen, Stuart, Kronwall, Helm

I think this is where the game will be won. Detroit wins 4-2.