Detroit Red Wings Win Western Conference Finals

The Detroit Red Wings were successful last night in winning the 2009 Western Conference title and eliminating the Chicago Blackhawks.  To their credit, the ‘Hawks held on as best they could with Martin Havlat and starting goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin, knocked out of the lineup but, ultimately, the Wings were just too hot to handle.

image: Zuma Press

Detroit showed their strength as a team when they pulled together to compensate for the absence of star players, Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk.  They played a patient, determined game and in the end it paid off.

I have to say that I was impressed with Blackhawks backup goalie, Cristobal Huet, tonight despite his team’s loss.  He looked a lot better than he did during the last game.  Unfortunately, he had just made an incredible save when Darren Helm scored for Detroit at 3:58 into overtime (Dan Cleary scored the other goal in the team’s 2-1 victory).

Now, of course, we know for sure that the defending Stanley Cup champions will face their rivals from last year in a rematch between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.  I didn’t think that I would be but I’m actually pretty excited.  It’s pretty rare to see the same two teams heading to the Stanley Cup finals and then there’s the fact that Marion Hossa has changed sides and this year will put on a Red Wings jersey as he takes on his former Penguin teammates.  He left the team (and turned down the lucrative contract that they offered him) because he thought he had a better chance of winning the Cup with the Red Wings.

I’d like to mention that the last time this sort of thing happened, the Edmonton Oilers ended up beating the New York Islanders in 1984 after losing to them the previous year.  If history repeats itself, there’s a chance that the Penguins will be hoisting Lord Stanley over their heads in the next week or two.

I just thought I’d also point out that Sidney Crosby went ahead and grabbed the trophy after winning the Eastern Conference Finals but Henrik Zetterberg refused to touch it.  Sid had a good point, though.  He didn’t touch it last year and it didn’t seem to change his luck.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see…

image: TSN

Amazingly, the schedule is already available and it begins this Saturday.  Fortunately, that means that both teams will have gotten roughly the same amount of rest (just a day difference).

• Game 1 – Saturday, May 30, 8pm ET Penguins at Red Wings
• Game 2 – Sunday, May 31, TBA Penguins at Red Wings
• Game 3 – Tuesday, June 2, 8pm ET Red Wings at Penguins
• Game 4 – Thursday, June 4, 8pm ET Red Wings at Penguins
• Game 5* – Saturday, June 6, 8pm ET Penguins at Red Wings
• Game 6* – Tuesday, June 9, 8pm ET Red Wings at Penguins
• Game 7* – Friday, June 12, 8pm ET Penguins at Red Wings

* If Necessary