Today is the day, the day that everyone online can shut up for 3 hours and take in what should be the start of an awesome first to four slugfest. This wont be the soft Wild team with reigning goon champ Boogard or a Vancouver squad who didn’t look like they wanted to start the physical game with the Ducks. Detroit will bring it and you know they will drop the gloves if it does come to that, but more likely just get togethers in front of the net and in the corners. Face washes, slashes to the shin guards, pushing, shoving…hockey damnit! There are no Sean Avery’s to piss people off and not get in it, anyone who starts something will finish it. Detroit has seen this in both of their series, so this shouldn’t be anything new to them.

All the players are saying the first ten minutes are the most important, eight days is a lot of time off after all. I would expect a minor bit of rust, but once that first shift is over at Joe Louis, everyone will be dialed in. I will bet a lot of money that the team that shows up tonight will be the team that showed up in game one of the Vancouver series. The team that came at you to boot up your ass, that kind of attitude. Bet your ass that Anaheim will not come out flat in this game, Randy Carlyle and the veterans will simply not allow that. They will stress the fact these Wings are slightly crippled. Finish every check, if you have support and can get away with it, lay down the big hit. Beauchemin will take that opportunity, he would love to change the attitude of a game with one shift. He has had a decent hit in each series, no reason to think that changes here.

The majority of media types are picking the Ducks. Not because they hate Detroit, media doesn’t pick against the Yankees, they just say they don’t like them. When someone makes a prediction on a game or a series, they want to be right, not because they dislike the other team. Anaheim was built for this moment and everyone knows it. They wont fizzle out in crunch time like past Ottawa teams. Top to bottom, they are the most complete team remaining in the playoffs and beg someone to argue that. The other three teams may have an edge in something like third defensive pairing or fourth line scoring balance, but when you can interchange guys on different lines double them up, it balances out.

I really hope that Todd Bertuzzi shows up in this series, Holmstrom can not take all that beating himself. This is his opportunity to get back at anyone who said he was done. I really don’t know what happened to that guy. I know he was hurt most of this season, but damn, he is so big and so gifted. He also looks really good in Detroit, bit pricey, but I still think he is a good fit if he can produce. But I am not up on my Red Wings knowledge, so I will be quiet.

Lets go Ducks, lets go out and get this, then wait for Ottawa!