Game 7 Preview

Here we are! What everyone has been waiting for... although, I'm sure Trevor B. would have preferred to have this series completed already, just so he could claim his first prize monies. Below, I have the top five teams, to whom this pool has come down to and we can see how this should all play out going into Friday night's game.

Player	Trevor B.	Steve W.	Brad W.	Mike E.	Chris M.
Points	280	-1	-7	-7	-7
Pavel Datsyuk					x
Henrik Zetterberg	x
Marian Hossa	x		x	x	x
Johan Franzen	x	x	x	x	x
Jiri Hudler		x
Mikael Samuelsson		x
Nicklas Lidstrom			x
Chris Osgood				x
Evgeni Malkin	x	x	x		x
Sidney Crosby	x	x	x	x	x
Bill Guerin				x
Marc-Andre Fleury	x	x	x	x	x

Without a doubt, we have a bunch of wash out players, that all five teams have on their roster. Johan Franzen, Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury all have no value to the movement in the pool, whatsoever.

For Trevor to beat Steve, he needs Henrik Zetterberg and Marian Hossa to beat out Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson in points on Friday night. With the way the Red Wings have been winning games in this series, Hudler and Samuelsson have as good of a shot to get points than the two superstars. Intrigue to follow...

With the three teams fighting for the last two money spots, the separation is interesting. All three teams have one different Red Wings player each, as they all have Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa to wash. Brad has Nicklas Lidstrom, Mike E. has Chris Osgood and Chris M. has Pavel Datsyuk. If the Red Wings win on Friday night, you would have to believe that Mike will take third place, barring a big point effort from the other two players. On the other hand, if Pittsburgh wins, Mike E. needs Bill Guerin to outscore Evgeni Malkin to take third spot, which is no easy task. Pittsburgh winning isn't even the case here, as Guerin versus Malkin becomes a huge wild card, especially if it's a high scoring game, which we shouldn't be expecting.

With Mike E. only six points behind second place, there is an outside shot of him making that up with a big game from Chris Osgood (shutout for 4 points) and a massive outing from Marian Hossa (hat-trick, maybe?). Those are two players that Mike has differently from Steve and if there is a Detroit shutout, there are no Penguins points to worry about.

Well, we're almost there. Not long to go before it's all said and done. If the Penguins win, we should see Mike E. fall out of the money, as Malkin should have a good hold on things. The Red Wings winning will likely see Mike stau in the money and go as high as third. He's really the only big moving possibility in this pool going into Game 7, so hold onto your hats. It's gonna be a good one.