Tonight's Playoff Match-up 29/05

Detroit Red Wings @ Chicago Blackhawks (8:00pm ET)
TV: CBC, RDS, NBCSN
Series: 3-3
Enjoy it while you can everybody, tonight marks the end of a chapter between these long-time rivals. Win or lose, Detroit is on their way to the Eastern Conference next year and likely won't meet the Blackhawks in another playoff series, barring a Stanley Cup final appearance in the future. It's going to be a huge test tonight for the Wings, after giving up a 3-1 series lead and now facing a game seven on Chicago ice. Much of their success will rest on the shoulders of goaltender Jimmy Howard, who has a 4.03 goals against average in the last two games, both losses. On the other hand, his counterpart Corey Crawford has been outstanding during that same time period, with a 1.68 goals against and .944 save percentage.
Also working against the Wings favor is that their top players have gone quiet. Henrik Zetterberg, though playing very well defensively, has just one point in his last four, while Pavel Datsyuk has two in his last seven. Even though they've been contributing in other ways, they have to hit the scoresheet tonight or their season may be done. However, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews seems to be heating up, after finally scoring in game five and adding two assists last night. There will be no line-up changes for either side.

Prediction: 3-2 Hawks.

It's going to be a fantastic game tonight, as all game sevens are. Both teams feature players that have been in these pressure situations before and know what they need to do to win. It's going to be a battle.

Thanks for reading everyone, please comment and share if you like the content here at WAAP. Tomorrow I'll have my first conference final preview blog up, as I take a look at Pittsburgh versus Boston in the East. The Western Conference final preview will be up the day after. I absolutely love that the five teams left standing at this point are the last five Stanley Cup winners, and whoever wins this one tonight will make a great opponent for the Kings.

Tonight's gif is brought to you by the Kings' Justin Williams, who scored the series winner last night. It was Williams's 9th career point in a game seven, putting him fourth all time behind Doug Gilmour (13 points), Trevor Linden (12 points), and Jaromir Jagr (10 points). That guy is clutch.