2008 Stanley Cup Finals Prediction

In less than an hour, the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals will begin with the Pittsburgh Penguins visiting the Detroit Red Wings.  So, this is basically the last time to put forth any predictions.  Here’s my breakdown:

Offensive Stats (based on playoffs performances only):

• Points – Of the  top 5, two are from the Red Wings and three are Pens players but it is so close: Henrik Zetterberg and Pittsburgh captain, Sidney Crosby, are tied with 17 points, while Marion Hossa (Pens), Pavel Datsyuk (Wings) and Evgeni Malkin (Pens) are all tied with 19.
• Goals – Johan Franzen (Wings) leads in postseason goals with 12 and the rest of the top 5 includes three players in this series: Henrik Zetterberg (11),Pavel Datsyuk (9) and Marion Hossa (9).
• Assists – Sidney Crosby is at the top of this list with 17 assists (only Penguin in the top 4).  The fourth and fifth spot are taken by two Wings players: Niklas Kronvall (12) and Henrik Zetterberg (10).

Goaltending (based on playoffs performances only):

Red Wings goaltender, Chris Osgood, has done really well in the postseason.  He has the best goals against average (1.60), is third in save % (.931), second for wins (10) and third for shutouts (1).

In comparison, Penguins netminder, Marc-Andre Fleury has done just a little bit better overall.  Despite the fact that his 1.70 goals against average is second to Osgood’s numbers, he leads in every other category with a save % of .938, 12 wins and 3 shutouts.

Bottom line: This is a really tight race.  We’ve got aged-to-near-perfection experience against youth and sheer skill.  When you look at how close things are offensively, it’s not a big leap to conclude that this series could come down to goaltending.  If Fleury continues playing the way he has throughout the playoffs, it could be enough to edge out Osgood.

This could go all the way to Game 7 but I believe the Penguins will win.

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