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Carolina Hurricanes
vs.
Detroit Red Wings
ESPN analyst Bill Clement breaks down the Stanley Cup finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings.

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5-on-5
The Red Wings’ play at even strength is what got them by Colorado. While Carolina can play four lines, they can’t hurt you offensively the way Detroit can. The Grind line of Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty scored five goals against the Avalanche. I like Carolina’s mobility on the blue line, but Detroit can match that. While Bret Hedican and Sean Hill were great midseason pickups for the Hurricanes, Mathieu Dandenault and Steve Duchesne have really risen to a new level for Detroit. On the strength of high-caliber depth, the advantage goes to Detroit.



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Detroit power play vs. Carolina penalty kill
Detroit’s power play was kind of quiet against Colorado, scoring five goals in 24 opportunities (20.8 percent), but both sets of penalty-killing units dominated their series. The Hurricanes’ penalty kill is one of the most underrated aspects of their game, and they allowed only three power-play goals against Toronto. Rod Brind'Amour is one of the best in the business, especially on faceoffs in his own end. But Detroit’s power play, which can have five different looks in the same game, will stress Carolina’s penalty kill to the max.



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Carolina power play vs. Detroit penalty kill
While Ron Francis is still one of the great power-play quarterbacks down low, Carolina’s power play is handicapped by a shortage of right-handed shots at the forward position. As a result, the Hurricanes are kind of predictable. Detroit’s penalty kill is not only good defensively (85.7 percent against Colorado), but the Red Wings have players like Brett Hull, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, who are always dangerous shorthanded threats. In the playoffs, the Wings have six shorthanded goals (two by Hull), which is quite an accomplishment.



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Goaltending
It should be a terrific matchup between the Red Wings’ Dominik Hasek and the Hurricanes’ Arturs Irbe. It’s the first time two non-North American-trained goalies have met in the Stanley Cup finals. Irbe, from Latvia, must play his best round of the playoffs for the ‘Canes to have a chance. Hasek is coming off consecutive shutouts – and a record five in the playoffs – and seemed to get better as Detroit’s series against Colorado moved along. A lot of people think Hasek has an advantage because he is so motivated to win a Stanley Cup. But I assure you that no one wants to win the Cup more than Irbe. As good as Irbe is, it is hard to give him the nod over Hasek.



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Coaching
The only NHL head coaches who have been at their posts longer than Detroit's Scotty Bowman are Carolina's Paul Maurice and Ottawa's Jacques Martin. Bowman's resume and record speak for themselves. No coach has ever accomplished what he has. That said, Maurice is the NHL's most underrated coach, and it's great to see him finally getting some recognition. Although I will call the coaching matchup a push, Bowman has more chess pieces to move around his board than Maurice does.



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Intangibles
There aren't many intangibles at play. What you see is what you are going to get from both teams. The slight edge goes to Detroit because of the layoff. I don't like Carolina's seven-day layoff. And as I mentioned during Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, I think three days is perfect. Both teams are healthy (if you can call Yzerman's knee healthy). Plus, Detroit beat Carolina twice during the regular season - 5-2 at Carolina and 4-3 in Detroit.



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Prediction - Detroit in six
The difference will be Detroit's offensive depth. With so many 600-goal scorers, all of whom scored against Colorado, Carolina faces a daunting task trying to keep the scores down.



Bill Clement is a hockey analyst for ESPN. He played 11 seasons in the NHL as a center and won two Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers.



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