Godzilla vs. Red Machine

NHL teams

Repeating a championship is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. However, Detroit's situation is somewhat unique with team going thru a lot of distractions since last June. They lost Vladimir Konstantinov to career-ending car accident and later goalie Mike Vernon was traded.

"I think there's a lot of people who counted us out early because of the circumstances of losing a couple of players," defenseman Bob Rouse said. "That just made the other guys that much more hungry to prove them wrong. Obviously, we're a better team with Vlady. But I think it gave our guys the incentive to pick up their play and contribute."

Washington has made it all the way to the finals riding on goalie Olaf Kolzig's shoulders. Kolzig is the main reason the Caps are in the finals, but he is not the only reason. The Caps are a veteran team stocked with experience.

"We won our conference and now we have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. We have to remember that we have a lot of work to do," forward Chris Simon said. "We're not satisfied with being second. We want to be No. 1, and we know we have to keep playing the same way."

Detroit is the clear favorite to win it all. Washington can't be happy to just be there or it will be a short series. Detroit's only questionmark is the unstable goaltending of Chris Osgood.