Who's it gonna be?

I'm sure everyone is dying to hear me tell the world what's going to happen in the finals between Detroit and Pittsburgh, but I haven't decided yet. This one is too close to call in my mind, though I will make a prediction before it all gets under way on Saturday.

For now, who has the advantage? Pittsburgh's top two, Crosby and Malkin, have combined for 40 points in their first two rounds. For Detroit? 40 points from Hank and Pav. The Penguins have had Staal step up with some secondary scoring. The Wings saw Franzen step up until he got hurt and Hudler step up in Franzen's absence. On defense, Detroit would appear to have an advantage with all-world D-man Nick Lidstrom having no comparator on the Penguins and guys like Rafalski and Kronwall playing tough and putting up points. While Pittsburgh doesn't quite have an answer for the Wings backline though, they have shown great ability to win 1-0 just as well as they can light it up in a 6-5 game.

So who is going to make the difference? I'm thinking goaltending. Fleury suffered the high ankle sprain half way through the season and came back incredibly strong. He's looked really solid in the playoffs despite this being his first really deep run with all the pressure on his back. On the Wings side of the ice, Osgood has been impressive after coming in to take over for the struggling Hasek against Nashville. He's gotten himself technically better this year, worked harder at positioning and it seems to have paid dividends. He hasn't been called upon a great deal by a Detroit team that just doesn't give up many shots or chances, but when he's been tested, he's stepped up big. I would guess that he's going to be called upon a lot more this series though, so we'll see what he can do!

I'm leaning one way on my call, but I'll give it a few more days thought before laying it out there to be laughed at. Look for my call at the end of the week and look forward to game one getting underway Saturday night!