Tonight's the Night

Finally... it's the Stanley Cup Finals, beginning tonight at 2000 hrs (EDT). Tonight will mark the Wings' 99th game this season... with at least three more on tap and more than likely a full slate of seven games before the series with the Penguins is decided. At least that's what most of the sporting press thinks.

While opinions on the question of who will win this series are pretty evenly divided, most pundits feel it will take seven games to decide the outcome. MLive's George Malik has posted comprehensive round-ups of the predictions from the usual sources, i.e., The Hockey News, ESPN, SI, the Canadian press, the CBC, hockey blogs, the Dee-troit and Pittsburgh papers, and even the frickin' New York Times... if you're into reading such things. His admittedly homer-ish coverage (Go Wings!) of the SCF is the BEST available (IMHO)... in terms of absolute completeness.

As for the Great Unwashed... here's a small sampling about what ESPN's readers think the outcome will be, along with some series-related questions: Note that the vote is split fairly even at 51/49 Wings, nationwide. In Michigan 96% of voters think the Wings will win; in PA it's 85% Pens... go figure. You can vote in the poll here, if'n ya wanna. Now. As for me? I'm thinking Wings in six... just like last year. The wild card in all this is the Wings' health... the Pens' too. But given the way things look this morning... and most especially if Datsyuk returns for Game Two and the ones following... I just don't see the Wings losing.

GO WINGS!!!