Five reasons Detroit can win the Cup

(Editor’s note: Third in a four-part series. Next: Five reasons the Pittsburgh Penguins can win the Stanley Cup).

Holy octopi, why have the Detroit Red Wings flown so far under the radar all season when they continually have displayed they are the best team in the league?

Is it because we’re so blinded by the Sidney Crosbys, the Alexander Ovechkins and Henrik Lundqvists that other teams have grabbed the lion’s share of the spotlight instead of the inhabitants of Hockeytown? Or is it because it would just take all the suspense out of the season if we already knew how it would turn out?

Well, if capturing their sixth Presidents’ Trophy wasn’t enough of a clue, breezing through the first two rounds of the playoffs should have cemented it. We’re only jumping the gun by two rounds to suggest the five reasons why the Red Wings can skate the Cup on or before June 9.

1. Best team wins, it’s that simple. Where are the flaws? Let’s see, the Red Wings won the most games, scored the most goals in the West, allowed the fewest in the league, improved their grit, displayed far more depth than ever before and even dropped the gloves more than last season.

Ah, is it goaltending because Dominik Hasek was chased halfway through Round 1, and Chris Osgood is really nothing more than a backup dressed in sheep’s clothing? Well, the pair combined to win the Jennings Trophy during the regular season.

No, there are no chinks in Detroit’s armor. Sure, the Wings could get a bad break, like the questionable call late in Game 5 of last year’s conference finals that led to Anaheim’s tying goal inside the final minute of regulation. The Ducks scored again in OT to take the series lead and went on to win the Cup.

Was there really any difference between the Wings and Ducks besides Anaheim’s physical style of play and Detroit’s decimation with injuries on defense? We could be talking about the Wings going for back-to-back Cups right now instead of gliding to No. 11 in franchise history.

2. They keep playing away, then they score. When the Wings have it going, which is much of the time, it’s almost like there’s not even another team on the ice. It’s that Harlem Globetrotters-Washington Generals effect.

Detroit has an amazing knack of possessing the puck the majority of the game, dominating zone time and leading statistically in both shots and scoring chances.

Detroit is four lines and three defense pairs almost always turned to the same page. It’s short passes, circle through out the neutral zone, regroup, hit the opposing blue line with speed and open up the offensive zone by using all of the ice. You won’t catch these guys playing dump-and-chase.

And the Wings finish, too. Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are averaging more than one point per game in the postseason. Jiri Hudler, Niklas Kronwall, Nicklas Lidstrom, Mikael Samuelsson, Brian Rafalski and Tomas Holmstrom have at least six points in Detroit’s 10 postseason games, too.

3. Adversity? What adversity? Call it a swagger, call it a playoff attitude, but the Red Wings don’t get flustered when under pressure. In fact, the closer they get to the fire the better they seem to perform.

Maybe this is another way of explaining just how this team is so well-coached. Mike Babcock is cool under pressure, prepared, confident, reflective, analytical, positive and a damn good bench boss.

After dropping the first two road games in Nashville to knot their first-round series at two wins apiece, all Detroit did when people wondered if momentum had shifted was outshoot the Predators 54-21 during a Game 5 victory. Then the Red Wings outshot their Central Division rivals 43-20 on the road during a series-clinching shutout triumph.

Thinking the tables might turn when Colorado returned to the mile-high environs of Denver after losing two in Detroit, the Red Wings quickly snuffed out those thoughts with a one-goal victory in Game 3 and embarrassingly easy 8-2 rout in Game 4 when it appeared Detroit could have scored as many goals as it wanted.

4. The defense never rests. Maybe it’s because the play of Lidstrom, the perennial Norris Trophy candidate who will win it again this year, gets taken for granted, but the entire Detroit blue line doesn’t receive nearly the credit it deserves.

Much like the forward group that seamlessly went from Steve Yzerman-Brendan Shanahan-Brett Hull to Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom, the defense personnel has changed and gotten younger and still hasn’t skipped a beat.

Kronwall was injured for the Wings’ entire run to the third round last year. Healthy and determined to show his wares, the 27-year-old Swede is displaying what a difference he can make. He leads Detroit in postseason blue line scoring with eight points, all on assists.

Lidstrom is 38 and showing few signs of slowing down. He still corners the market on top ice time, and for good reason. Whether it’s a power play, penalty kill, even-strength of the final minute of a period or game, you can be sure Lidstrom is going to be on the ice.

Former No. 3 draft pick Brad Stuart was a nice pickup from Los Angeles at the trade deadline. With plenty of help in the form of Brett Lebda, Brian Rafalski and Andreas Lilja, Stuart blends in very nicely where he hadn’t been very effective in each of his last three stops (L.A., Calgary and Boston).

And who can forget the NHL’s graybeard, Chris Chelios. His ice time may have been cut, but there’s no less fire burning in the belly of the 46-year-old. He may be older than all the remaining coaches – well, Dallas’ Dave Tippett is the same age as Cheli – but Chelios doesn’t play like someone who played his first NHL game 12 days before the birth of current teammate Valtteri Filppula.

5. History and experience is on their side. Detroit is the last team that won back-to-back titles (1997 and ’98), and six players who competed on both champions are on Detroit’s current roster – Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty, Holmstrom, Lidstrom and Osgood.

Speaking of Osgood, who is 6-0 in this playoff season, he is within three victories of matching the team record for goaltenders of 47 held by Terry Sawchuk. Records are not what motivate players – Cups do – but having something like that dangled can’t hurt.

It’s only fitting that the consistently best team is rewarded. Detroit is making its 17th consecutive appearance in the playoffs, the longest current streak in pro sports (Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees are next with 13 in a row). The Red Wings’ eighth straight 100-point regular season matches the league record originally set by the Montreal Canadiens set from 1974-75 to 1981-82.

This would be a good time to clear a spot in the trophy case for Stanley Cup No. 11, the team’s fourth since 1997.