The puck is almost ready to drop as the two clear cut best teams are set to face off in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. Detroit and Pittsburgh breezed through the first three rounds, potentially setting up one of the best Finals in some time.Even if it doesn't live up to expectations, there will be no lack of talent on the ice that is for sure. And for two cities just four hours away by car, this will be the first games between them all season.

The Detroit Red Wings stormed through the NHL’s regular season with the best record, but in the past that hasn’t always been a good sign for them in the playoffs. This year though, they made short work of Nashville, Colorado, and Dallas for the most part -- doing it many different ways along the way to the Finals. Some games were led by stellar goaltending (Osgood), others by an offensive outburst (Franzen), and some just had the tone set with a huge hit (Kronwall).

Detroit doesn’t have many question marks coming into these Finals, as they are clicking on many cylinders and haven’t faced much adversity. Zetterberg and Datsyuk are paving the way in the goals department now since Franzen has been sidelined with concussion-like symptoms. Osgood has been solid in net, and Hasek is waiting in the wings, no pun intended, should Osgood falter the slightest bit.

One advantage the Wings have had over essentially every other team is their superior backline play. Led by Captain Niklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings have the best defenseman in the league, who is an X-factor when it comes to shutting down opponents top lines, as well as starting the breakout. Add in Brian Rafalski and heavy hitter Niklas Kronwall and the Penguins face their toughest task by far this postseason in trying to get near the crease.

As for Pittsburgh, well they pretty much sailed through the postseason like they were on a mission. Twelve wins and just two losses was the mark for the Penguins. They suffered just two meaningless losses in game fours versus the Rangers and Flyers respectively. They find themselves in their first Finals since 1992.

The three headed scoring monster of Crosby, Malkin and Hossa is paying dividends and role players galore are filling up the score sheet with big goals and logging tons of ice time when needed. Jordan Staal has developed into one of the best two-way centers at the age of 19, and his face-off skills have really come around these playoffs.

Ryan Malone and Max Talbot have provided sparks at times as well, and the goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury has been as solid as one could have hoped for this spring. The young net minder is proving his worth as a number one overall pick just five summers ago and at 22 is starting to mature. His 1.70 goals against this postseason is stellar, and he is starting to make the big save at the right moment, which was a knock on him in the past.

The Penguins don’t seem to match up as well defensively against the Red Wings, but they have some players that can do the job make no mistake about it. Brooks Orpik leads the team in hits, and Gonchar, Letang and Whitney are three threats to lug a puck the length of the ice and bury one when you least expect it. Hal Gill has been pretty solid and pestered opposing teams stars the first three rounds too.

The Penguins will have their toughest opponent this postseason though, as Ottawa, New York (Rangers), and Philadelphia were no where near the talent level of a Detroit. It may be interesting to see how the young Penguins respond to adversity if they are down a game or two in this series as they have not been down all spring long.

As for experience, well that is definitely on the side of the Red Wings. So many have been there before and many have even held Lord Stanley at the end. The Penguins have only three players with Championship Rings on their résumé: Roberts, Sykora, and Sydor. Sydor has yet to see action since the end of the regular season, not because of injury, just because of being a healthy scratch -- Coach Michel Therrien will not mess with his playoff chemistry while things are going just right.

The way I see this series going, well that is tough. This is by far the best opponent each of these two teams has faced in the four rounds leading to hoisting a Cup. It should be a good series and fast to say the least. Quite frankly, I have not seen two teams play at this level for this long in quite some time.

With the way Detroit is so sound in their passing game and the way they can turn and burn and have a puck in your net before you can blink is certainly impressive. How the young Penguins have become fundamental in almost every aspect of the game in just a short time is also phenomenal to me.

I think Detroit is still the favorite in most people’s minds though. Their experience is an advantage, but sometimes the desire of youth is something that cannot be measured. The big questions are can the stars of Pittsburgh keep producing against a top notch defense? Can Fleury continue his solid play and steal a game or two? Will Pittsburgh’s role players be able to keep the puck deep in the Red Wings zone enough to keep Detroit from pressuring the Pens D? And finally, who has the better two-way forwards?

I am going to pick Detroit in six games for the Cup. My main reasoning behind doing so is the fact that this is the first series in which the Pens have not had home ice, and that may pay off for the Wings. If Detroit can win game one then Pittsburgh is in a position they haven’t been all postseason. I would never count the Pens out, but someone has to take home the Cup. I am sure I will catch a ton of flak from people here in Pittsburgh, but that is the impartial pick I have to make.

In NHL '08 the series goes seven games, and is a high scoring one at that. Goaltending for both teams was shaky and backups for each squad made appearances in this one. In the end the Red Wings prevailed in game seven by a score of 5-3.

Evgeni Malkin lit the lamp six times in the seven games and Hossa added five of his own. Sid "The Kid" Crosby had three goals and eight assists as well. But even with the offensive output the Pens couldn’t stop the Wings talent up front. Zetterberg and Datsyuk had five goals each, and Holmstrom popped in four. Lidstrom and Gonchar sent blasts home in two of the same games in this series, and both of Lidstrom’s came on power plays.

These Finals saw a few injuries, but all players came back to play later in the same game, including Gary Roberts who scored Game Four’s overtime winning goal after getting upended by Kris Draper in the second period. There was also PP success in this series, with Detroit scoring on almost 30% of their man advantages and Pittsburgh on around 25% of theirs.

The virtual fans had a treat as well, seeing several breakaways that led to goals as these teams seemed to look for that home run play and knockout punch quite often. For a virtual series it packed in a lot of excitement and was a good finale to a fun playoffs. Congratulations to the Red Wings and Captain Niklas Lidstrom on winning Operation Sports simulation of the 2008 NHL Playoffs as played on NHL '08 by EA Sports.

As for the real thing, game one starts at 8pm on Saturday night in Hockeytown. Personally this will be the sporting event I have most cared about, probably in my entire life, but regardless of what happens it has been a great season in the NHL and has been a pleasure bringing it to you all. I hope maybe there will be a little celebrating in the “Burgh” this June, but it won’t come easy that is for sure. So until next season enjoy the Finals and be sure to stay tuned to OS as we bring you all the news leading up to the launch of NHL '09 by EA Sports (and NHL 2K9 by 2K Sports), take care all.