Red Wings vs. Penguins - Lord Stanley's Cup goes to Game 7

Who Will Hoist Lord Stanley Tonight?

Game seven, baby! Here we are. A long 82-game season has culminated through a great playoff season to bring us to the final game in a thrilling series that has seen a veteran team in Detroit taken to task by a riley, upstart band of up-and-comers from Pittsburgh. The stories have been told. From Marion Hossa defecting to the Wings, to Crosby emerging as the greatest playmaker the NHL has seen since Lemieux and Gretzky, to Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeni Malkin making their case as superstars…the tale of the tape has been long and drawn out. Now, all that’s left is to drop the puck in a Game 7 that will have the NHL betting community on the edge of its seat.

Of course, veteran leadership and the “we’ve been here before” experience of the Detroit Red Wings will pay huge dividends for them. The fact that they are 7-2 SU in their last 9 games when hosting Pittsburgh, and undefeated in their last 5 at Joe Louis, should entice the Wings’ betting detractors to shovel loads of money in to our sportsbook to back their beloved Wings. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least make a case for the Penguins.

Detroit Red Wings
Friday, June 12th --- Joe Louis Arena, Detroit --- 8:00pm EST
NHL Betting Line: Detroit -200 / Pittsburgh +150

Pittsburgh has the two top scorers in the playoffs with Evgeni Malkin scorching the league with 35 points and Sidney Crosby amassing 31 points right behind him. If the Penguins were able to capitalize on the opportunities created by Crosby, then there would be much higher numbers on Sid’s stat sheet. The fact remains that the Red Wings are a much deeper team, but the Penguins have two of the scariest players in the league right now on achieving what every hockey dreams of.

And Detroit has a walking bag of karma disease in their locker room named Marion Hossa. Hossa has been massively ineffective in the playoffs, getting just 3 assists and zero goals against his former team. If the hockey gods have any sense of humor, which they tend to, Hossa’s mere presence is enough to deter me from backing the Wings.

That’s the strange thing about ushering in new eras. They usually come when you least expect it. Think about the New England Patriots and how they came out of nowhere. Think about Brock Lesnar coming out of obscurity to capture the heavyweight UFC title. Consider the Spurs building a near-dynasty after David Robinson retired. The Penguins are right there, and standing in front of them is the gatekeeper to the Stanley Cup.

It’s the Wings championship to lose. They know that as defending champions. But Sidney Crosby did not come all this way to lose. He didn’t vanquish Alexander Ovechkin only to get bested by Babcock and company. He hasn’t evolved over the span of six games in the Finals to just watch another team hoist the trophy that will be his one day.

For the Pittsburgh betting faithful, all you need to do is believe. There is no more fitting way to watch a new dynasty be built as the Red Wings fall, and Pittsburgh rises. It’s been a bad year for Detroit as a city. It’s about to get a whole lot worse as we watch the final anointment of “The Next One”.

NHL Furious Free Pick: Sidney Crosby +150 (OVER)