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Will Wings threepeat?Archived from 1998-99 season. | |
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The stretch run is over and the match-ups are set. It is time to get serious as the Stanley cup playoffs are here. The big question is whether the Detroit Red Wings have what it takes to win their third straight Cup.
Detroit scored added a lot of depth at the trading deadline by acquiring Chris Chelios, Wendel Clark, Ulf Samuelsson and Bill Ranford. The new and improved Red Wings are all the sudden favorites to win the Cup. "I've never seen anything like it," said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman of the deadline windfall, "and I've been in the business 30 years." Detroit's first round opponent is the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim with the deadly power-duo of Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya. The Ducks have the league's best power-play and Detroit must find a way to stop Kariya and Selanne. "We can't take a lot of penalties," Detroit's Brendan Shanahan said. "We're going to preach a lot of discipline." Expect Detroit to throw Chelios and Samuelsson at Anaheim's power couple to intimidate them. Nick Lidstrom and Larry Murphy shut down Kariya and Selanne in the 1997 series and could do so again. The Ducks are 1-10-3 at Joe Louis Arena since coming into the league and they need to pull all the stops to last long in this series. |
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