Stanley Cup Playoff Preview - Phoenix vs. Detroit

Hockey Betting Lines

04/13/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No, that is not a misprint. The Phoenix Coyotes are back in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2002.

The Coyotes have gone from bankruptcy court to NHL ownership to postseason darlings in the span of an 82-game season that saw the club post franchise marks in wins (50) and points (107), emerging as surprise contenders for the Pacific Division title before settling into the Western Conference's fourth seed.

Now the franchise will be expected to win its first playoff series since 1987, when it was still the Winnipeg Jets. No pressure.

So how did the Coyotes get to this point?

General manager Don Maloney deserves a lion's share of the credit. When Wayne Gretzky stepped down as the club's head coach and director of hockey operations before the season, Maloney went out and got a proven winner to replace "The Great One" in Dave Tippett.

Tippett, who coached Pacific Division rival Dallas before coming to the desert, ranks second in the NHL in wins since the start of 2002-03 with 321, behind only Mike Babcock (325) of Detroit, and could land himself the Jack Adams Trophy as the league's top coach.

Starting late last year, Maloney started adding to a solid core that included veterans Shane Doan, Ed Jovanovski and Ilya Bryzgalov by bringing in the likes of Matthew Lombardi, Scottie Upshall and Radim Vrbata among others.

And, Maloney was perhaps the biggest winner at the trade deadline, making numerous trades and hitting home runs by adding Wojtek Wolski, Lee Stempniak and Derek Morris in separate pickups.

Stempniak especially shined after being acquired from the Maple Leafs, going off for 14 goals in 18 games with the Coyotes after posting just 14 goals in 62 games with Toronto this year.

Wolski added six goals and 18 points in 18 games since coming over from Colorado, while Morris logged nearly 20 minutes of ice time for Phoenix to take some of the pressure off of Jovanovski and Keith Yandle.

Phoenix, though, might only go as far as Shane Doan's 33-year-old legs can carry them. A member of the franchise since it was located in Winnipeg, the Coyotes captain logged 18 goals and 55 points while skating in all 82 games.

Doan will have help. In addition to the late-comers, Matthew Lombardi posted 19 goals and 34 assists in 78 games, while Vrbata added a team-leading 24 goals and 43 points in 82 games. Upshall was also contributing nicely with 18 goals in 49 games before going down with a season-ending knee injury.

However, it likely won't be offense that will carry the Coyotes. While they ranked just 24th in the NHL with 211 goals, they allowed the third-fewest goals in the league at 196.

Bryzgalov will man the pipes after a 42-20-6 season that saw him post a 2.29 goals-against average (sixth-best in the league) and .920 save percentage. He also finished second in the NHL with eight shutouts and has been very good in the playoffs before coming over to Phoenix.

Bryzgalov got into 16 games with the Ducks in the 2006 and '07 playoffs, going 9-5 with a 1.68 GAA and three shutouts.

He'll have some playoff experience in front of him in Jovanovski (58 playoff games) and Adrian Aucoin (40 games), while the Coyotes could also slide trade deadline pickup Mathieu Schneider, owner of 111 career playoff games, in if necessary.

Jovanovski ended with 34 points in the regular season, while Yandle led all Phoenix blueliners with 41. Add in shot-block specialist Zbynek Michalek and the Coyotes come in with an underrated defense.

That mentality also carries over to special teams, where Phoenix was sixth on the penalty kill (84.5 percent) while finishing near the bottom on the power play (14.6 percent).

DETROIT RED WINGS (5th seed, West)

REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 44-24-14

2009 PLAYOFFS: Defeated Columbus 4-0 in conference quarterfinals; defeated Anaheim 4-3 in conference semifinals; defeated Chicago 4-1 in conference finals; lost to Pittsburgh 4-3 in Stanley Cup Finals

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No that is not a misprint. The defending Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings enter the 2010 playoffs as the fifth seed and on the road.

After some early-season misfortunes, they'll take it.

Though the Red Wings had their eight-year run as Central Division champions end, and enter the postseason lower than a two seed for the first time since a fourth-place finish in 2002, the fact that Detroit is where it is despite losing over 300 man-games to injury is pretty remarkable.

And the team didn't just finish strong; it ended playing some of its best hockey of the season. In fact, the Red Wings were one point back of a playoff spot heading into the Olympic break, but went 16-3-2 after the breather, including a 10-1-1 mark over their final 12 games of the regular season.

The Red Wings are also healthy. Johan Franzen managed 21 points in 27 games after missing the first 55 games due to left knee surgery, while Valtteri Filppula, Dan Cleary, Niklas Kronwall, Jason Williams and Kirk Maltby all played in less than 65 games this year. All should be ready for this series.

Injury, as well as offseason losses of Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson and Jiri Hudler, took its toll on Detroit's offense, which finished just 14th with 223 goals scored. After having four 30-goal scorers a year ago, Pavel Datsyuk led the club with 27 goals and was tied with Henrik Zetterberg for the team lead with 70 points.

Tomas Holmstrom also had a solid season with 25 goals and 45 points, while Todd Bertuzzi added 18 goals and Filppula ended with 11.

It wouldn't be playoff hockey without Nicklas Lidstrom, a multiple Norris Trophy winner who leads all of this year's playoff participants in postseason games (235) and points (165) while coming in second behind Boston's Mark Recchi with 46 goals.

Lidstrom's regular-season point total was down to just 49 this year, his lowest output since 2003-04, while fellow blueliner Brian Rafalski had 42. Still, the duo remain reliable rocks at the blueline, while Brad Stuart, Brett Lebda, Jonathan Ericsson and Kronwall round out a defensive unit that was seventh in goals allowed (207).

The biggest question for the Red Wings could come in goal, where rookie Jimmy Howard enters as the No. 1 over veteran Chris Osgood, and will be making his postseason debut. Howard won the role after going 37-15-10 with a 2.26 GAA and .924 save percentage, winning 10 of his final 11 starts.

It is unknown if Howard will be on a short leash due to his playoff inexperience and Osgood did rebound from a sub par 2008-09 season to lead the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Osgood is 74-49 in 129 career playoff games with a 2.09 GAA and 15 shutouts. That includes a 6-3 mark in nine postseason battles with the Coyotes franchise.

Detroit's power play was ninth in the league during the regular season at 19.2 percent, while the club finished 10th on the penalty kill at 83.9 percent.

MATCHUP

Detroit and Phoenix split four regular-season meetings this year, though both of the Coyotes wins came in overtime. One bright spot for the Coyotes versus the Red Wings was their power play, which clicked at a 26.7 percent in the series.

Doan was Phoenix's leading scorer versus Detroit with a goal and four assists, while Lombardi was second with two goals and four points. Yandle chipped in from the blue line with two goals and an assist and Bryzgalov started all four games, posting a 2.95 GAA.

Holmstrom had a team-best three goals versus the Coyotes, while Datsyuk was tops with six points in the season series off two goals and four assists. Zetterberg managed four assists in three games, while Lidstrom had two goals and two assists in the four meetings. Howard started three of the four games, going 2-0-1 with a 2.60 GAA.

The Red Wings and Coyotes will be meeting in the postseason for just the third time and first since Detroit eliminated Phoenix in six games in the 1998 conference quarterfinals. Detroit also finished off Winnipeg in six games of the opening round of the 1996 playoffs.

It's almost a shame that the Coyotes pull such a tough draw in the first round, as the Red Wings are much better than their fifth seed would show. Bryzgalov will need to steal maybe more than one game for Phoenix to have a chance, and some playoff jitters by Howard would help.

However, the Red Wings have the talent and experience to make this a potentially short series.

Sportsbook Betting Lines predicted outcome: Red Wings in 5