The Favorites are winning

So far in the Conference Finals, both of the favorites have come out ahead with 2-0 leads. Both teams have done very well for themselves, and at this point it almost appears as if we could just skip ahead to the final round. While I actually picked the Stars to win, and thought that the Flyers could make it close, there is little to no reason to expect either team to win four of five at this point which is what it would take to win.

Pittsburgh is having a great year in the playoffs, and has put together and increadable 10-1 record. Furthermore they are mostly injury free, and have gotten solid play from Crosby, Malkin, and Hossa. This makes it difficult to slow them down, to the point that you really can't beat the Penguins with a defensive battle.

Detroit is also doing very well with a record of 10-2 and an even better 8-0 with Osgood as a starter. Granted Detroit's first round opponents were relatively easy, but with the way they are outshooting the Stars they have been a bit dominate in the first two games of this series.

For the Flyers and Stars, they are both seeing the limitations of relying too heavily on goaltending, and can't win when the other team has far better offense. The Flyers are ok up front, but have to manage on without Kimmo Timonen and now Braydon Coburn for their defense. Playing Hatcher for 28 minutes a game isn't ever going to win you anything, let alone against the high powered offense in Pittsburgh. For Dallas, they are still doing ok in their own end, but are unable to put forward any offensive push at all. Detroit's defensemen, are shutting down Dallas, and making things easy for Osgood. As Turco proved with his three shutouts last playoffs, you need more than a really good goaltender to win. The two Martys have not been the problem, everyone else is.