The Wings open up the 2011 NHL Playoff season Wednesday night at 7:30PM ET from the Joe Louis Arena. For the second straight year the Wings will play a Phoenix Coyotes team that took them to the brink last season.
I feel pretty good about the Wings’ chances playing Phoenix in the first round however many Wings fans may agree with me in that the first round always seems to be the most difficult for the Wings.
So, aside from it being the opening round match-up here are some of the more annoying things about the Wings’ first round series with Phoenix.
- Going without Zetterberg – Zetterberg stated Tuesday that he will for sure be held out of Wednesday night’s game and said that after that he will be day-to-day. The Wings have a lot of depth BUT you never want to go into a first round playoff series without one of your best players.
- Shane Doan will be healthy this time around – With Zetterberg out (at least for part of the series) Phoenix’s Shane Doan will be in. Doan was held out for some of last year’s series which very much affected Phoenix in the end. Doan is a player that can give the Wings fits too. He can light the lamp (leads Phoenix with 20 goals and 60 points) and make the big hits.
- Ilya Bryzgalov – It seems like it doesn’t matter if you’re a good goalie, mediocre goalie or bad goalie the Wings always seem to make them look good in the first round. Brzygalov to his credit doesn’t need the Wings to make him look good, he’s already good. If Phoenix is to win the series Bryzgalov will need to steal some games and be the reason why the Wings lose in the first round.
- Keith Yandle’s puck movement – Yandle is a very good offensive defenseman that can move the puck with the best of them. He leads the team with 48 assists and doesn’t get nearly the recognition he deserves.
- White out conditions in the desert? – This is nothing that will really effect the outcome of the series but how many fair weather fans does it take to fill Jobing.com Arena?
- West Coast start times – Those dreaded West Coast start times are something that is maybe one of the more annoying things about beings a Wings fan in the playoffs. The glass half full outlook on this is at least Phoenix has to do the traveling too.
