The Detroit Red Wings won their Game 7 matchup? Why? Well my answer on WLIE yesterday was Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen for starters. They’ve been there. Even Justin Abdelkader who scored the game winner was a “black ace” when the Wings last won their Cup in ‘08-09. He got that experience watching from the sidelines, practicing and traveling with the team, talking to the players and coaches, at least that’s what he told me while his teammates were hoisting the Cup.

Both the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals enter their second round series feeling a little battered and bruised following a pair of grueling seven game gauntlets in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Rangers played a defensively focused brand of hockey during the regular season, utilizing a group of four defensemen who could be in most NHL teams top pairings in Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Michael Del Zotto, and Ryan McDonagh, along with one of the league’s most dominant goaltenders in Henrik Lundqvist to create a fortress that flummoxed many NHL teams this season.