You’re damn right I’m using the Winnipeg Jets logo instead of the Phoenix Coyotes logo. If you’re a true puckhead, you would understand why…
Music to listen to: The Hardest Button to Button by The White Stripes
These are two teams with contrasting histories. If you ask most people to name the first hockey team that comes to their mind outside of their hometown team, the majority of answers would be either the most recent Stanley Cup winner or the Detroit Red Wings.
Winning 11 Stanley Cups, 19 division titles, and making 20 consecutive playoff appearances will do that for you.
As for the Coyotes, as recently as last year, they were in danger of losing the franchise. However, despite all of these obstacles, Phoenix is making its second consecutive playoff appearance and face Detroit once again.
Last year, the underdog Coyotes took Detroit to seven games before dropping the series decider at home to the Red Wings. This time, the Red Wings have home-ice advantage and are trying to win their second Stanley Cup in four years.
Keys to the series:
1) Who will score for Phoenix?
The Coyotes may have finished 13th in the NHL in goals per game, but those numbers are deceiving. First, the leading scorer, Shane Doan, posted only 60 points and he was the only player to score at least 20 goals this season.
Similar to similarly offensive-challenged Los Angeles Kings, who are facing the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, the Coyotes are going to have to score some goals because their opponent is going to get at least three scores a contest.
2) Will the real Red Wings please stand up?
Detroit is limping into the playoffs figuratively and literally. The Red Wings only won four of their last 11 contests. While some may argue that their playoff position as the third seed has been set for weeks ever since they clinched the Central division, that’s not the way any team wants to head into the postseason.
Henrik Zetterberg, arguably the best offensive player for Detroit, missed the last few games of the regular season and has been scratched out of the first game of this series. This comes on the heels of Pavel Datsyuk just returning to the lineup.
3) Can Ilya Bryzgalov steal the series for Phoenix?
The one slight advantage the Coyotes have in this series is at goalkeeper. I’m skeptical of Detroit’s second-year netminder Jimmy Howard, even though he did have a good regular season.
However, no goalkeeper works more with less support than Bryzgalov. The Coyotes are constantly outshot yet managed to be 12th in the NHL in goals against average (2.7) and that’s because of excellent goalkeeping.
4) Will the special teams be special for Detroit?
For having a decent defense and a top-line goalkeeper, the Coyotes were 26th in penalty kill percentage. Detroit was fifth in the NHL in power play percentage (22.3).
It’s imperative that the Coyotes find a way to stay out of the penalty box or we may see the Red Wings make quick work of this series.
Prediction: Detroit in six
The Red Wings are my darkhorse (well, as much as Detroit can be a darkhorse) to win the Stanley Cup and the march starts with a convincing series victory over the Coyotes.
The Sports Inquirer 
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