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Pittsburgh (45-28-9, 99 Pts) vs. Detroit (51-21-10, 112 Pts)
Season series
The Penguins and Wings met only twice during the regular season and split the series.
Pittsburgh scored a wild 7-6 OT victory Nov. 8 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Ruslan Fedotenko scored the winner at 3:49 of OT, while Jordan Staal had a hat trick.
In the other game, the Wings returned the favour, winning 3-0 at Mellon Arena on Feb. 8. Ty Conklin made 25 saves for Detroit, while Pavel Datsyuk scored twice. Marian Hossa also scored against his former team.
Playoff history
In case your head's been in the sand, this is a rematch of last year's final. The Wings knocked off the Penguins in six games, hoisting the Cup on June 4 in Pittsburgh.
While the Penguins fell behind three games to one in that series, they did force a Game 6 with a dramatic 4-3, triple-OT victory with Petr Sykora scoring the winner at 9:57.
The skinny
The Penguins are coming off a four-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Wings knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks in five games ... The Wings are the last team to repeat as Cup champs (1997-98). Six players from those teams -- Kris Draper, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kirk Maltby, Chris Chelios and Darren McCarty -- are still on the roster ... The Penguins won back-to-back Cups in 1991 and 1992. The late "Badger" Bob Johnson was behind the bench in '91, when the Penguins knocked off the Minnesota North Stars in the final.
Scotty Bowman took over for the 1991-'92 season, when Pittsburgh downed the Blackhawks in the final ... Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby (14-14-28 points) and Evgeni Malkin (12-16-28) rank first and second in playoff scoring ... Penguins coach Dan Bylsma played under Detroit bench boss Mike Babcock in 2002-03 during Babcock's first season behind the Anaheim bench.
"I think it was his destiny to be a coach. I think he'll coach as long as he wants," said Babcock about Bylsma ... The Penguins practised in Pittsburgh yesterday before flying to Detroit.
The heat is on Hossa
Hossa signed a one-year deal with the Wings after being on the losing end in the final last spring. He left Pittsburgh for Detroit because he wanted to win a Stanley Cup. There are going to be a lot of eyes -- and pressure -- on Hossa in this series. He has the chance to show everybody he made the right, or wrong, choice
Rare rematch
The same two teams making it to the final in consecutive seasons doesn't come along very often. This is only the third time it has happened since 1970. The Canadiens-Bruins played in 1977-1978, while the Oilers-Islanders met in 1983-1984.
Black and blue report
Pittsburgh: C Mike Zigomanis (out for playoffs). Detroit: C Pavel Datsyuk (foot) day-to-day; C Kris Draper (groin), expected back for Game 3; D Jonathan Ericsson (appendix), day-to-day; LW Tomas Kopecky (face), questionable; D Nicklas Lidstrom (lower body), expected to play in Game 1; D Andreas Lilja (concussion, knee), questionable.
On the Marc
Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't received a lot of notoriety in these playoffs, but he's gotten the Penguins this far. Those close to Fleury say he's hungry and wants to prove he's an elite goalie. While many are willing to concede the No. 1 job on Team Canada at the Olympics to Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, Fleury is going to get a lot more attention if he has a Cup ring.
Wing-ing history
The Wings just keep winning. Not only are they chasing back-to-back Cups for the second time in just over a decade, they're looking to add to their 11 championships over their 83-year history.
From Detroit's room
"What happened last year isn't going to have any bearing on this year," said G Chris Osgood. "This year, a lot of different guys are stepping up for both teams. It'll be fun and a challenge for us because they're playing at such a high level. We'll be ready for sure."
From Pittsburgh's room
"There were just a lot of times this year maybe we could have caved in and lost our composure," said D Brooks Orpik. "I think maybe (what we went through) last year in the finals, it helped us a lot in the first couple of rounds (this year). I think the maturity level here is a lot higher than it was last year, too."
How the Pens line up
Forwards: Chris Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-Bill Guerin; Ruslan Fedotenko-Evgeni Malkin-Maxime Talbot; Tyler Kennedy-Jordan Staal-Matt Cooke; Miroslav Satan-Craig Adams. Defence: Mark Eaton-Sergei Gonchar; Hal Gill-Rob Scuderi; Brooks Orpik-Phillipe Boucher; Kris Letang. Goalies: Marc-Andre Fleury, Mathieu Garon.
How the Wings line up
Forwards: Henrik Zetterberg-Johan Franzen-Jiri Hudler; Tomas Holmstrom-Valtteri Filppula-Marian Hossa; Darren Helm-Dan Cleary-Mikael Samuelsson; Kirk Maltby-Justin Abdelkader-Ville Leino; Defence: Nicklas Lidstrom-Brian Rafalski; Brad Stuart-Niklas Kronwall; Brett Lebda-Chris Chelios. Goalies: Chris Osgood, Ty Conklin.
bruce.garrioch@sunmedia.ca