Breaking Down the Finals

If when asked to pick a winner of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals, you were to look at the rosters of the Hurricanes and Red Wings, it would be safe to guess that over 95 percent of you would choose the Wings without a moment’s hesitation. After all, why not? Their roster reads like a Hall Of Fame ballot, and they have every essential cog in the machine of a champion. They have the quirky goaltender (Hasek), the veteran captain (Yzerman), the power forwards (Hull, McCarty, Shanahan), along with the rugged defensemen (Chelios, Lidstrom, Duchesne). However, the average age of the Wings is 31. For a team coming off of an intense seven game series with the defending champion Avalanche, this could be cause for worry.

On the other side, there are the out-of-nowhere Hurricanes that continuously remind me of the Patriots team that won the Super Bowl this year. The underdogs in every series so far, they have trapped their opponents into obscurity while somehow finding ways to pull out victory after victory. Loaded with young talent, and simply bubbling with potential, they are led by crafty veterans Ron Francis and Rob Brind’Amour, who have an excellent supporting cast among the likes of Bates Battaglia and Jeff O’Neill. However, while the Patriots only had to beat the Rams once, the ‘Canes are faced with the daunting task of upending the mighty Red Wings four times.

Forwards

While both the Hurricanes and the Red Wings are able to play four forward lines, the Wings showcase a much more star-studded lineup amongst them. Their speed and scoring knack will be enough to eventually overwhelm the ‘Canes defensive corps. The forwards are the key to this series. Since Carolina’s trap has not had to defend against an offensive force the likes of Detroit, they will have to hope their front lines can keep up with the offensive tempo set by the Wings, since there seems to be no hope of containing them.

Edge: Red Wings

Defense

Although the Red Wings have a pair of Norris Trophy winners starting on their blueline in Chelios and Lidstrom, the Hurricanes defense has been overlooked throughout the playoff drive. The latter should be attributed to much of the Canes success. Against the Devils and Leafs in particular, the Canes D did a great job of picking up the garbage in front of the net, and not allowing grinders like Gary Roberts and Tie Domi to get their sticks on second chance rebounds that popped out in front of the net. The little things like this that the Hurricanes defensemen do will make life a lot easier for Arturs Irbe, and considering he’ll be facing a plethora of 500 goal scorers, he’ll need all of the help he can get.

Edge: Hurricanes

Goaltending

No question here. Although at times Irbe has carried his team at times, Hasek has that confident aura about him that reflects upon his teammates, allowing them to play their games while knowing that if there’s a big save to be made, Dominik will make it. Most shooters acknowledge this, and Hasek will use this intimidation to his advantage at every turn. However, the problem for both goaltenders has been consistency at a few points. Kevin Weekes was forced to come in to put out the fires against the Devils a few times, and Hasek was in a major funk against Vancouver early on in the series and at a couple points in the Colorado series. However, the difference in this category is when Hasek is on fire, there will be countless “How did he…?” moments.

Edge: Red Wings

Special Teams

Carolina has had one of the best penalty kills in the league since the All-Star break, and that is a trend that has carried over into the playoffs. Penalty killing was one of the main reasons the Canes advanced over the Leafs, and into the Cup Finals. On the other side Detroit has an incredible power play with Shanahan, Yzerman, Federov, Hull, and Robitaille on two separate lines. However, the Hurricanes have the talent to potentially shut off this power play. If they are able to take the Red Wings power play out of the game while scoring on the power play, it would be a huge step towards toppling the Wings.

Edge: Hurricanes

Prediction

In every series that both of these teams have played in, I have picked them to be knocked out. Ordinarily I would choose the Red Wings without hesitation, but there is a subtle feeling in my gut that says that the Hurricanes will do all of the little things that will prove to be just enough to topple the Wings. It will be easy to tell early on in Game One whether Carolina will be able to hang in there with the speed of the Red Wings or not. I see Arturs Irbe having a huge series, while Hasek will be the same inconsistent Hasek we saw in 2000 against the Stars. Jeff O’Neil and the other youngsters will provide the spark, as Francis and Brind’Amour will their team to a stunning double overtime 1-0 victory in Game seven at Joe Louis Arena.

Hurricanes in 7. You heard it here first. Long live the underdog.