The Penguins have been dominant, winning 12 of 14 games to this point in the 2008 playoffs, but the Senators, Rangers, and Flyers combined don't come close to matching the playoff experience that the Wings will provide in this series.

That's not to say the Pens don't have enough raw talent to counter that veteran savvy, we just don't know how Pittsburgh will react to it yet. The Wings are just too grizzled to let guys like Evgeni Malkin (creatively) cherry pick their way back into the play to catch Hail Mary passes at the opposite blue line like he did against Phili. So if Pittsburgh is going to make a series of this, they're going to have to come up with new ways to win.

This series also has the potential to get very chippy. Consider the sandpaper: Chelios, Draper (a dead ringer for Chuck Norris right now with his beard in full effect), Drake, McCarty, Laraque, and Ruutu - McCarty shreds a Gibson in his spare time for crying out loud. If that's not grit, I don't know what is. And the chippier it gets, the more it favours the Wings. That's not to say that the Pens can't handle the heat. Remember Crosby willingly fencing with Mike Richards after the whistle in the Eastern final?

But expect the Wings to throw more of this kind of thing at Pittsburgh than any team has to this point because they've got the horses to do it. Maybe if it gets really ugly we'll see Chris Osgood and Marc-Andre Fleury square off at centre ice!! Ok, maybe that's a stretch, but lets give the edge to Osgood in that one for the simple reason that Fleury would be too busy smiling to throw a punch.

Ultimately though, the reason Detroit will win this series is coaching. Watching Detroit play hockey this spring is like watching hundreds of soldiers marching in unison. Credit Mike Babcock for not only devising a system that wins, but devising a system with no passengers. Michel Therrien's team, on the other hand, seems to succeed on plentiful individual efforts. Efforts that have been far too much for any team to handle at this point. But I spoke with one veteran member of the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer who claimed that Michele Therrien's systems left many of the Penguins shaking their heads in disbelief. Granted, something has to have changed since then, or the Pens wouldn't have come this far.

Wings in 6

Bigdude's record to date: a regrettable 8-6




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