The Red Wings are Beatable

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings have had a strong playoff year thus far and look to be unbeatable.  There does not seem to be any kinks in the red armor they done on their chests.  The Chicago Blackhawks would not have an argument with that after they lost the opening game of their Western Conference Final series 5-2 on Sunday afternoon.  Detroit seems to be chugging along through the playoffs.  Is there anything that can get in their way to stop them from capturing yet another Stanley Cup?

Chicago has got to be scratching their heads going into Game 2.  The Hawks did a good job shutting down top-liners Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom in Game 1, but they still saw the likes of Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Dan Cleary play big roles in the win.  This is the strength of the Detroit Red Wings; production from everyone on the squad.  If Pavel Datsyuk has a bad game, the team looks to the second line to produce, which they usually answer favorably.  Datsyuk has not seen the score sheet in ten games after his team's victory on Sunday, but the rest of his team has compensated in every game.

The Blackhawks must find a way to contain the second line of the Red Wings.  Last game, the Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary line contributed seven points in the victory, including four of the five goals scored.  How can a team handle the Datsyuk line along with the Franzen line, as well as counter with their own goal scoring throughout one game?

The best defensive pairing must be played against the Franzen line.  Franzen leads the Western Conference in points with 18 in the playoffs this year, and Zetterberg is a close third with 16 points.  Putting Duncan Keith against these three scoring threats is a strong move for Head Coach Joel Quenneville to make.  He did this in Game 1, which means only one thing; Keith has to be better.  Duncan has been claimed throughout the years to be a premier NHL defenseman in the regular season.  He now has to prove that he can be that same stalwart throughout the playoffs.  Every game becomes much more important as the playoff grind continues.

The best defensive forward on the Blackhawks is Sami Pahlsson, a center that was brought in on the trade deadline just for that purpose.  Pahlsson, who saw some minutes against the Franzen line in Game 1, has to be out there for all of the important defensive zone face-offs as well as playing on the penalty kill as much as possible.  Pahlsson might be able to thwart off some of the scoring attacks that this line produces.

With the top defenseman and the top defensive forward being used against the best Detroit grouping, what about that pesky Datsyuk-Hossa-Holmstrom line?  Datsyuk has not produced as well as the Detroit coaches had hoped, but he is still playing strong hockey and getting his chances every game.  The best way to respond to these top players would be to throw out your best offensive players.  The Blackhawks still have to make the first change in Game 2 since they are the away team.  But when Quenneville sees the Datsyuk line come out, he should find a way to get out his top young skaters, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.  The risk the Hawks would take is that Datsyuk is still a great defensive forward, but Holmstrom and Hossa are not considered to be top back-checkers.  Kane and Toews have worked some magic in the playoffs, especially in Game 6 of their Semi-Final Series against the Vancouver Canucks when Kane scored his first-career playoff hat-trick.

Countering the Datsyuk line with a little grit may not be a bad move either.  Matt Walker has risen through the ranks of the Hawk defensive corps this season and has proven that he can hang with some of the best that the NHL has to offer.  Walker could be a strong presence in front of the Blackhawks net when Tomas Holmstrom parks in front of Khabibulin.  Walker will have to be careful to not take a penalty when battling with Holmstrom, but putting a body on him may foil Holmstrom's chances.

Khabibulin's counterpart, Chris Osgood, has been one of the best this playoff when it comes to goaltending.  After a dismal 2008-09 campaign when he posted a 3.09 GAA and a .887 save percentage, Osgood is now tops in the league for the four remaining goaltenders with a 2.06 GAA and second with a .922 save percentage.  He still has not faced a large amount of shots though, averaging about 28 shots against a game (Jonas Hiller of Anaheim averaged about 40 shots against a game).  Chicago needs to get the puck to the net as much as possible.  Kane is a player who loves to shoot the puck, but he was held shot-less in Game 1.  Toews had just three shots and Martin Havlat only had two.  The Hawks need to test Osgood from every angle since he proved in the regular season that nearly any shot has a chance of going in.  If the Hawks can run Osgood out of the net in any of the following games, they would face a cold goaltender in Ty Conklin, who has not seen action since April 11th. 

The Blackhawks have a very good chance to win this series, they just need to find the weakness of the Red Wings and exploit it.  Otherwise, we could be seeing another Stanley Cup banner raised to the Joe Louis rafters next Fall.