Western Conference Quarterfinal: Detroit v. Nashville

Written before the series started. Honest!

The roll that the Red Wings were on for a good part of the season was pretty astounding. For awhile they looked unstoppable and, I think, if the playoffs had started in January then they would be the unchallenged favorites. Then the injury bug hit. They still played very well but not in quite the dominant fashion with which they were breezing past teams during the first part of the season. Even with a couple of slips here and there, they still managed to walk away with the President's Trophy and home ice throughout the playoffs.

The story was exactly the opposite for the Preds. Nashville lost a tremendous number of players in the offseason and most media types had them missing the playoffs this year. Instead, the Preds put some things together and managed to stay in the race for a spot most of the year. They were in that 6th through 10th race in the west for a big chunk of the season and, when Chris Mason started to struggle, a lot of people thought all was lost. Dan Ellis stepped up, however, and put together a couple of good hot streaks, including one over the last couple of weeks of the season that helped Nashville lock up a playoff spot.

So...can the Preds pull off the upset here? I think they'll make it more interesting that a lot are predicting but, ultimately, no, the Wings will advance. Certainly if you take a look at the rosters and stats this should be a no-brainer...the Wings have loads of talent at forward and defense. Really their only potential weakness might be in net...and they certainly aren't really struggling there either! The key stat for me, however, is shots allowed on net. The Wings lead the NHL in this category allowing on average 23.5 shots allowed per game. When you have goalies who are relatively solid (even if they aren't the same as they once were) like Hasek and Osgood this is a devastating number for a team that's trying to outscore the Wings. Given the forwards they have and the offense generated from the Wings blueline it's no wonder they basically strolled to the league's best record.

I do think, however, that all of the pressure is on Detroit in this series. The Preds will be loose and that's why I think they'll make things interesting. I look for them to stretch Detroit to six games before going home for the summer...