RED WINGS CLIP BLACKHAWKS IN OT TO ADVANCE TO STANLEY CUP FINALS

In a Stanley Cup playoffs characterized for all out blood and guts wars in the first and second rounds, both conference finals champions managed to advance without much resistance.  Pittsburgh had little trouble sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the East, while Detroit eliminated the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night by a 4-1 series margin.  To the Blackhawks’ credit, they didn’t roll over as badly as Carolina—three of the five games in the series were decided by a single goal.  In game five, Chicago battled throughout before Darren Helm’s goal at 3:58 of overtime gave the Red Wings the decision.

Players who chose to lay the big -265 home favorite price on the Red Wings had to sweat out a few minutes of overtime, but were eventually rewarded with the victory.  Detroit had been favored in all four of their series victories, with the lone setback coming in game three where the Wings were +105 road underdogs.  The three combined goals scored easily went UNDER the 5’ total, only the second game of the series to do so.  For the playoffs, the Red Wings have 7 OV, 8 UN and 1 push which certainly underscores the versatility of a team that can prevail in any style of hockey game.

After a horrible showing in game 4, Blackhawks’ reserve goalie Cristobal Huet was magnificent in game 5 despite the loss.  He was particularly impressive as he kept the Wings off the board during a first period onslaught where they outshot the Blackhawks by a 21-9 margin.  For the game, Huet stopped 44 of 46 Detroit shots on goal.  Huet’s stingy goaltending kept the struggling Hawks in the game for two scoreless periods before Detroit’s Dan Cleary lit the lamp at 6:08 of the third period assisted by Brett Lebda and Valtteri Filppula.  Chicago’s Patrick Kane tied the game with his goal at 12:53 set up by Brent Seabrook and Dave Bolland.  This set the stage for Darren Helm’s deflection goal at 3:58 of overtime assisted by Tomas Holmstrom and Brett Lebda that gave the Wings’ the game 5 win and the series victory.

In his postgame comments, Detroit goalie Chris Osgood credited the Hawks’ effort:

"We blew them out one game, but by no means was it easy.”

While Chicago captain Jonathan Toews hoped the experience would prove valuable in the longterm for his young team:

"It's pretty hard kick to the ribs. It stinks quite a bit, but maybe it's the motivation and experience we needed."

The Stanley Cup Finals were originally slated to begin on June 5^th, but with both Conference Championships over quickly the NHL has moved that date up.  The Pittsburgh vs. Detroit series will now get underway on Saturday night on the Wings’ home ice at Joe Louis Arena.  Detroit isn’t happy with the change, as they were looking forward to a few extra days of rest in hopes that some of the lingering injuries to key personnel would have time to heal.  The Red Wings are -165 favorite in the opening game of the finals, with the total set at 6 UN -130.