Hurricanes, Red Wings set to face off in finals

The Stanley Cup Finals begin Tuesday when the Carolina Hurricanes blow into "Hockeytown" against the Detroit Red Wings. The best-of-seven series will determine the National Hockey League champion. Here's a look at the teams vying to take home Stanley for the summer. \nThe Detroit Red Wings are in the Cup Finals for the fourth time in eight years. They have won the Cup nine times. In 1997, the Red Wings celebrated a Cup championship with a parade of over a million fans.\nThe Carolina Hurricanes are in their first Cup Finals. The franchise had won a single playoff series before this year. In 1997, the Carolina Hurricanes, formerly the Hartford Whalers, played their first season in Raleigh in front of a half-empty arena. \nClearly, the Red Wings and Hurricanes don't share much more in common than their red-and-white uniforms. Here's how they'll match up when they share the ice tomorrow: \nDetroit Offense v. Carolina Defense\nIt is no surprise the Red Wings, averaging three goals a game, boast the highest scoring offense of the playoffs. The Wings feature three 600-goal scorers in veteran forwards Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and captain Steve Yzerman. \nThe Wings don't have to rely upon their top guns, however. \n"We're so deep, you can put any line against (Carolina) and still give them trouble," said Paul Vockler, a Red Wings game night statistician. \nGrind Liner Darren McCarty recorded his first career hat trick in Game 1 of the conference finals and Tomas Holmstrom netted a two-goal 1st period in Game 7. Their exploits have masked the sudden unproductiveness of Brendan Shanahan, the Wings' regular season point leader, who had one goal in the series. \nThe Carolina defense will need to keep Shanahan, who was traded to the Wings from Carolina in 1996, in his struggling ways. \nOne player who has left his struggles behind him is Hurricanes goalie Arturs Irbe, who has been spectacular since being pulled in the middle of the first round against the New Jersey Devils. \n"I've been impressed with the way Irbe's been playing," IU men's club hockey coach Dr. Rich Holdeman said. "He's the only thing that can give them a chance."\nIf Irbe falters, back-up Kevin Weekes proved his mettle in finishing off the Devils in two games before Irbe's second-round return. \nCarolina Offense v. Detroit Defense\nThe Carolina attack features the "BBC Line" of Rod Brind'Amour, Bates Battaglia and Eric Cole, which has accounted for 34 of the Canes' 100 playoff points. \n"That's a good line," said Vockler of the BBC Line. "Carolina is young, and has fresher legs."\nThe Hurricanes' youth and physical style are embodied in rookie sensation Cole and center Jeff O'Neill, who have each earned nine points and more than 20 penalty minutes. \nThey hope to wear down a Detroit defense that struggled at the onset of the playoffs against the Vancouver Canucks, the highest-scoring team in the regular season. Since then, the Wings have put the "D" back in Detroit. The Wings shut out the Colorado Avalanche, featuring playoff point leaders Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic, in the final two games of conference finals.\nIf future Hall-of-Fame defensemen Chris Chelios and Nicklas Lidstrom stumble, Carolina will have to get past Detroit netminder Dominik Hasek, arguably the greatest NHL goalie never to win a Stanley Cup. The "Dominator" already has five shutouts, the most ever in a single playoff.\nFor the 37-year-old Hasek, a six-time winner of the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the NHL's best netminder during the regular season, a championship could complete an illustrious career.\nWeight of Expectations\nThe Red Wings were designed for a Stanley Cup run, Yankees-style: A high payroll with higher expectations. Red Wings owner Mike Illitch and the fans expect another parade through the streets of "Hockeytown."\n"I never went before," said Robert Powell, a high school teacher in suburban Detroit who had to attend classes during the victory parades in 1997 and 1998. "I'm going this year." \nAdding to the pressure is that Red Wing veterans such as Hasek, Robitaille and Yzerman don't have many years left on the ice. It's been four years since the Wings' last trip to the finals. It's unlikely this crew can wait four more.\nThat urgency could turn to panic if the upstart Hurricanes can steal one of the first two games in Detroit. Carolina fans, removed from their 1997 apathy, could give the Hurricanes a home ice advantage -- they sold out finals tickets in 35 minutes. \n"It's a nice atmosphere," said Holdeman, who attended a Hurricanes game in December. "It's a pretty big crowd."\nThe Hurricanes, not expected to get out of the first round, have relished the role of the underdog throughout the playoffs. Now the Wings will see if they have any bite.