The Red Wings by the numbers - Opposition
Much has been made of the weak level of competition within the Central Division. Sure enough the Red Wings and the Nashville Predators were the only teams within the Central to make the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 2003-04 season. Putting aside the division, let’s take a look at how the Red Wings have done against the rest of the NHL this season.
Red Wings v. Western Conference teams outside the Central Division: 30-10 [.750]
Red Wings v. Eastern Conference teams: 6-3 [.667]
Detroit hasn’t exactly struggled when going outside the division, now have they? How about Pittsburgh then. Here are the numbers outside of the Atlantic Division.
Pens v. Eastern Conference teams outside the Atlantic Division: 24-16 [.600]
Pens v. Western Conference teams: 7-2 [.778]
The two records against opponents outside of each team’s conference are nearly identical, and they’re too small to be statistically relevant. But when you look at games against conference foes outside your division the stats become more relevant as they account for just about half the games played during the regular season.
By that measure the Red Wings don’t have to explain away anything. If either team should be concerned with insularity it’s the Penguins, as the one team they’ve faced outside of their division is an Ottawa team that completely imploded. Otherwise the playoffs have been a continuation of the regular season for Pittsburgh, where they went 15-17 inside the Atlantic. They dominated a New York Rangers team who’s best defenseman was possibly a 21 year old Marc Staal. They also beat a Philadelphia team that was missing it’s two best defensemen in Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn.
This will be a highly competitive series and I suspect it will be low-scoring. Both teams are atop the NHL during the playoffs in GAA and rank in the top three in save percentage.
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