On June 4, 2008, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games during the Stanely Cup Finals. Let’s take a look back at the Red Wings recent championship team.
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Detroit won the president’s trophy for being the best team during the regular season. After clinching home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, Detroit went on to face the Nashville Predators during the quarterfinals and defeated them in six games.
The Wings went on to face the Colorado Avalanche in what some thought could be the series that sparked an old rivalry. That was not the case, Detroit swept the ice and defeated the Avs in four straight games. Colorado only scored eight goals all series, Johan Franzen had nine.
The Western Conference Final was a tougher task for Detroit. They faced the Dallas Stars and ousted them in six games. Detroit was ready to meet a young Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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During the first two games, Pittsburgh looked like no match for Detroit. The Wings won the first two the series and didn’t surrender a goal. The series shifted back to Pittsburgh, and the Penguins finally showed some fight in them winning game three 3-2. Detroit responded in game four winning 2-1 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Pittsburgh wouldn’t go down without a fight; They won game five in Detroit beating the Wings 4-3 in triple overtime. Detroit responded in game six defeating the Pens 3-2 to win their eleventh Stanley Cup in franchise history.
On this day in 2008. #LGRW https://t.co/bWWtV7l5zW
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 4, 2017
During the Wings 2008 playoff run, Chris Osgood took over in goal for Hall-of-Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek. Osgood went 14-4 during the playoffs after taking over in the first round.
Henrik Zetterberg led all of the NHL during the playoffs with 27 points. However, Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, and Zetterberg combined to score a total of 36 goals throughout the 2008 playoff campaign.
2008 was the last time the Red Wings made it past the second round of the playoffs, hopefully, sometime soon that will change.
