Wings and Coyotes in desert duel

Oddsmakers had to be tempted to put Detroit as -300 home favorites for Game 6 after they beat the Coyotes Friday night in Glendale. Phoenix had fought the good fight, gotten back into the postseason with the franchise under a cloud of uncertainty, but were going to fall ultimately to the Red Wings, who’ve made six trips to the Stanley Cups finals in the last 14 years, taking home the trophy four times.

Oddsmakers couldn’t go overboard however, since they had Detroit as -200 and -230 money line favorites in Game 3 and 4 in Motown, thus opened them safely as -210 choice and let the public decide what they wanted. Besides the last thing any sportsbook wanted was more huge payouts on hockey after Washington and Pittsburgh had lost as -300 plus favorites this past week.

Only a small issue came up, Phoenix rose from the ashes thanks to an unlikely source, the power play.

The Coyotes were 28th during the regular season in man advantage goal situations at 14.7 percent and after a good start, were on 0-19 drought against Detroit.

But this is aberrant Phoenix squad. Understand that veteran Mathieu Schneider, who wasn't even playing in the NHL when the Coyotes acquired him at the trade deadline, but due to injuries, Schneider was forced into action and he scored one of the three power play goals the Yotes tallied in 5-2 incomprehensible upset.

Phoenix is 11-2 after a three goal or more margin of victory and looks forward to Tuesday night before the home fans. “Any time you can play in a Game 7, it’s a game you’ll remember,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said.

Detroit’s mood is more somber, but knows they have won two games in the road playoff sweaters. “They won the special teams battle,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “That sucked the life out of our team.”

The Red Wings are 19-4 after allowing five goals or more over the last two seasons and their rookie netminder is coming off increasing scrutiny. Thou brilliant at times, Jimmy Howard has been beaten for four or more goals three times in this series.

“No, I’m not concerned about him at all,” Babcock said when asked about Howard between the pipes. “We’re real comfortable with Howie. You can’t win Game 7 until you get there.”
Howard was defiant about his play and felt his team missed other scoring chances in last contest. “They got lucky,” Howard said. “We hit a couple posts.” Nevertheless, he has a lot of weight on his shoulders for this proud franchise and it is now a one-shot deal for this perennial playoff giant.

The dichotomy of this Game 7 couldn’t be any more striking.

Phoenix last was in the playoffs eight years ago and hasn’t won a playoff series since arriving in the desert, last advancing to next round as the Winnipeg Jets in 1987. Detroit is the two-time Western Conference champions and has the longest continuous postseason streak (19 years taking away the strike season) of all the major sports.

Hockey linemakers have the Wings as -120 money line favorites with total Ov5. They are only 7-13 revenging a loss as a home favorite this campaign and 24-15 UNDER after playing in their own rink. Phoenix fittingly has been an underdog in every game in this series and is 18-6 after lighting the lamp four or more times and is 17-3 UNDER after a two or more goal triumph.

Detroit has won 10 of previous 13 meetings in Arizona but hasn’t been faced with a Game 7 on the road in the first round of the postseason in 19 years, when they lost at St. Louis. In fact, the last time the Wings won opening round deciding contest was back in the days of the Original Six, stopping Chicago in 1964.

The VERSUS Network and TSN have this desert duel at 9:00 Eastern.