Silverman: Red Wings Will Be Speed Bump, Not Road Block For Hawks
By Steve Silverman-
(CBS) The Chicago Blackhawks passed the first test without any of the drama that is regularly such a major part of the NHL playoffs.
The Blackhawks should have beaten the eighth-seeded Minnesota Wild in five games and they did.
No fuss, no muss. Nobody should expect a sweep, and the Blackhawks followed the prescribed route because they lost one game in overtime.
Now it's on to Round Two and the Detroit Red Wings. This matchup has the look of a going-away party because the Red Wings are going to be an Eastern Conference team next year. When they drop the puck in October, Blackhawks fans will get to see as much of the Winnipeg Jets as they want.
But there's one more piece of business with the Red Wings to address before they get situated in the East.
This second-round playoff matchup has the potential for drama and angst, but there's no way that Detroit should come out on top in a best-of-seven series. The Red Wings have more than enough to push this series to six games, but that's where it stops.
A week before the end of the regular season, it looked like the Red Wings would miss the playoffs. They had four games left in the regular season and they needed to win them all. They responded with their best week of the season.
They played mistake-free hockey and won four straight games.
They earned the No. 7 seed and drew the Anaheim Ducks, a team that had beaten the Blackhawks in all three of their regular season meetings. Nevertheless, the Wings stopped the Ducks in seven games.
Anaheim was bigger, stronger and faster than the Red Wings, but Detroit turned back the clock and won the series.
There is no Nicklas Lidstrom on the blue line, the goaltending with Jimmy Howard is good but not great and the Red Wings seemed to be a two-man offensive team with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.
Datsyuk finished tied for 10th in NHL scoring with 49 points, while Zetterberg tied for 13th with 48 points. After that, Johan Franzen was the Wings' third-best offensive player with 31 points. That placed him in a tie for 71st.
The Blackhawks have boatloads of talent and depth. The Wings do not.
But they have enough to push the Blackhawks in the series because they have the best coach in the sport in Mike Babcock.
He excels at all aspects of his profession. Babcock has the ability to look at his opponent and then look at his own roster and figure out a gameplan that gives his team the best chance to win.
He's also an instructor. In the NHL, that means staying on top of players in practice and correcting minor flaws. Nothing escapes Babcock as he peers over his team from behind the bench. He is hawk-like in his intensity and he rarely misses anything.
But what separates him from the other top coaches in the game – like the Blackhawks' Joel Quenneville – is his ability to find the right words to inspire them.
Babcock does not regularly make Gipper-like speeches in the lockerroom, but he lets his players know what they need to know and when they need to do it.
His message remains fresh after eight years in Detroit. His players respond to him and they play hard for him.
If the Blackhawks play their best game, Babcock's presence will not be enough. However, if there is any let up or downturn, Babcock will pierce the team's underbelly.
But the main factor in this series will be depth. Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, resurgent Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith are dominant players.
They are going to be able to impose their will and increase their edge in the all-time playoff series. Chicago has won eight of the previous 15 playoff series, although Detroit won the most recent matchup. The Red Wings pounded the Blackhawks in five games in 2009.
Recent history is all on Chicago's side. They swept the season series this year and Corey Crawford seems to own the Red Wings. He is 11-2-2 vs. Detroit with a 1.82 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.
Babcock and the Red Wings will push hard, but the Blackhawks will be left standing tall.
The Western Conference Finals and the Los Angeles Kings will soon be next up.
Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman was with Pro Football Weekly for 10 years and his byline has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Playboy, NFL.com and The Sporting News. He is the author of four books, including Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time. Follow him on Twitter (@profootballboy) and read more of his CBS Chicago columns here.
