Pittsburgh PenguinsCameron Ross

The NHL playoffs have begun and playoff beards and black eyes are the hottest fashion on the ice.

Checking has picked up and team trainers have their needles and thread ready to stitch up cuts and gashes.

The winner this year will be the Pittsburgh Penguins. What they lack on defense is more than compensated in their scoring.

Evgeni Malkin is an MVP candidate and was second in scoring during the regular season. Last season’s MVP, Sidney Crosby, is generally considered the best player in the league by experts like Don Cherry, Bill Clement and Drew Remenda. Crosby missed 29 games this season with an injury.

These two players at the top of their games are too much for any team in the NHL. There is no team in the Eastern Conference that can score with the Penguins and they have a goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, who can steal games.

The best defense in the league, statistically, belongs to the Detroit Red Wings, who are in a much tougher Western Conference.

They will likely be battered if they reach the Stanley Cup Finals after playing one of the tougher, more physical teams like the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks or Calgary Flames.

In fact, any team emerging from the West will have a lot of bumps and bruises because of the physicality that exists, leaving a plump and bloody opponent at the hands of the Eastern Champions.

Aside from Daryl Sydor, who has gone the distance four times, Pittsburgh’s defense lacks experience but the forwards are excellent back-checkers (those who help out on defense).

He’s past his prime but his locker room presence is undeniable. The Penguins don’t look as deadly as higher-seeded teams like the Red Wings or the Montreal Canadiens but they were without former MVP Crosby for 29 games.

The Penguins scored 247 goals this year, 15 behind league leader Montreal. Had Crosby been healthy for all 82 games he may have hit his pace of 111 points, which would mean 39 more goals for the Penguins.

With 39 more goals the Penguins would have scored 286, well over the 262 the Canadiens scored.

With two goalies, Fleury and Ty Conklin, who boast over a 92.0 save percentage, the Penguins are strong enough between the pipes to make a run at “Lord Stanley.”

Detroit Red WingsJose Martinez

It’s time to see who will skate away with this year’s 2008 Stanley Cup championship trophy.

Will it be a repeat for the Anaheim Ducks or will they fall short of starting a dynasty like teams of the past?

People who create the odds say chances of a back-to-back championship are unlikely; a team hasn’t done it since the mid-1990s.

With a team of the caliber of the Detroit Red Wings, the Western Conference will be a daunting task to get through.

Detroit is led by leading goal scorer Henrik Zetterberg, who not only scored 43 goals but also was second in points scored with 92. Zetterberg aided the Red Wings in scoring with the third most goals in the entire league at 257.

A major weapon that the Wings have is their ability to substitute two players between the pipes.

Goalies Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek split time during the regular season, posting a combined nine shutouts and the exact number of goals allowed with 84.

On a defense that allowed the fewest goals in the NHL is Niklas Lidstrom, who led the team in scoring by a defenseman. Teamed with free agent pick-up Brian Rafalski on the defense the two will aid whomever is in the net once the puck crosses center ice.

The Red Wings nabbed the top seed over the San Jose Sharks by finishing seven points ahead in the final regular season standings.

By finishing with a record of 54-21 the Red Wings won the President’s Trophy for having the best record in the NHL.

Heading into the playoffs, the Red Wings won seven of their last 10 games and will face the eighth-seeded Nashville Predators, who edged out Edmonton for the last playoff spot.

When the Red Wings have gotten either the first or second seed in the playoffs they have won it all six years.

It will be another letdown for the residents of “Hockeytown” if the Red Wings fail to bring home the Stanley Cup.

San Jose SharksAndrew Eggers

Wow! Is anyone even reading this? I did not think anyone besides the players on the Sac State Hockey Team even liked hockey but since our online editor gave us the nod to predict the Stanley Cup winner, I will stand by the San Jose Sharks, the closet team to all of us here in Sacramento. I have always liked hockey and the Sharks for that matter, but I do not know much about any other team in the NHL so it was an easy decision to pick them.

For the last couple of seasons I thought they had a legitimate chance of winning a title but they never seemed to have the good luck needed to get to the Stanley Cup Finals. I always thought they had the talent, but hockey is a sport where you need the puck to bounce the right way to win in the playoffs. Games are never over till the final horn blows as evidenced by the Sharks game three collapse when they blew a 3-0 lead to the Calgary Flames who eventually won, 4-3. The Flames scored the eventual game-winning goal with close to three minutes, I cannot remember exactly because my vision was blurred slightly if you know what I mean.

Once the regular season ends, NHL players do not receive paychecks while playing in the playoffs until they reach the Stanley Cup Finals when they get their bonus checks. It is one reason why the playoffs are extremely intense and worth watching because players are playing for free and want to make the extra money. It is not the only reason why the playoffs are so intense; hockey players are ferocious athletes who give out hits similar to those on the football field.

I have to pick the Sharks to win this year, but I wish Barry Melrose would stop doing it. The last four years including this one, he has been put a curse on the Sharks because he has picked them to win the Cup. It will be tough for them to win because the any team can win any game in hockey; it comes down to the team that has the best chemistry and luck at the right time.

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