Posted on 5/8/2008 2:45:20 PM

NHL Furious Playoff Picks 2008 – Can Turco Shake His Demons in Detroit?

By Tim Furious

Dallas Stars (45-30-7) vs. Detroit Red Wings (54-21-7)

Thursday, May 8th --- Joe Louis Arena, Detroit --- 7:30pm EST

NHL Betting Line: Detroit -215

There are very few online wagering question marks remaining about whether Dallas has the mustard to sit at the table with Detroit offensively and defensively. It may come down to one man – Marty Turco, who is 2-6 SU in the past three seasons when playing Detroit. What’s worse is that Turco’s record at Joe Louis Arena is so bad that I won’t even bother mentioning it here.

The thing I really don’t like about the Wings right now is this – they’ve had a fairly easy ride through the playoffs thus far. After they wizened up and pulled Hasek out of net, they inserted Chris Osgood. Now, I know Ozzie has been amazing in net, posting a 1.52 goals against average. The truth about that, however, is that he faced a hapless Nashville team and an even worse Colorado team that barely reached the net, let alone found the twine behind Ozzie.

Now the Dallas Stars come to town, with their 2.96 goals per game average. Detroit is an outstanding defensive team boasting Lidstrom, Rafalski and Kronwall who are all excellent defenders with ridiculous plus-minuses. The Red Wings only allowed 2.24 goals per game throughout the playoffs, but most of that is because Hasek got blown up by the Preds until he was yanked.

There’s a NHL betting theory that a team that has had a relatively easy road through the post season will get eaten alive by a team that has been playing at an incredibly high intensity thus far. Enter the drowsy Wings and the jacked up Stars. Dallas’s road to the playoffs has been through two tough California teams, San Jose and Anaheim, who didn’t make life especially easy for the Stars. Dallas responded then, and I bet they’ll respond against Detroit this time.

The Stars may be 4-11-5 SU in their last 20 games when playing Detroit, but this team is brand new with Brad Richards on board and Brendan Morrow scoring goals at will. They are peaking at the perfect time, and are a surefire threat to derail Detroit’s undefeated home record in the past five games.

NHL Free Pick: Dallas +185 (OVER)

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