If the Pens win tonight,

[whyverne]

and the Wings win the cup in Detroit; does that prove who's the better team? I think from a scientific viewpoint, one could claim that the only thing proven was that neither team could win on the road.

Easy for me to say, from Pittsburgh.

[caraher]

1. Playoffs are not scientific exercises

All it proves when you win a playoff is that you have the right to be called "champion." A good playoff system tries to give every team a nearly equal shot, and to make inequalities (like who gets an edge on home contests) be based on some reasonable criterion of merit (such as regular season performance).

And of course, fans will pick endlessly at the details (time off between series and between games was a favorite this time around).

"The better team" is, by the definition used by every gracious loser, the team that wins. That's not to say that the winning team would win a majority of series if it were possible to replay it many times over; much less that the winning team would win the largest share of times if one could re-do the entire playoff. Playoffs are not supposed to be science; in sports, as in life, you get one shot and sometimes you just don't get the breaks - which makes sports fascinating to watch!

[Iggo]

4. You're exactly right.

Playoffs determine champions, not who's the better team.

That's why the BCS is horseshit. B-)

[Upton]

2. I think you're correct

because, in a series in which no team has won on the road, all it will mean is that the Red Wings had one more home game.

If Detroit wins this Stanley Cup it will be tainted but if by some chance the Pens win it will be for real.. because they will have to do it in the most hostile environment imaginable.

[joeybee12]

3. It won't be tainted...they had a better record during the regular season...

...that counts for something.

[Upton]

5. Yeah...but look at this

thanks primarily to their coaching change, the Penguins went 18-3-4 over their final 25...compared to the Red Wings' 14-9-2.

So, right now, who really is the better team?

And who just has the advantage of playing 1 extra home game?

[joeybee12]

6. Then you have to say all Stanley Cups are tainted...ESPN was giving some

stat about how often the finals makes it to 7 games compared to say the NBA or MLB, and you have to go back almost 40 years to find a team that won the seventh game AWAY...it was Vancouver.

[Upton]

7. No..not all

I just have a problem with teams that fail to win a single road game in the finals of any sport.

[Forkboy]

10. Oh here we go.

Hey, maybe if the Pens had played worth a shit for the first 4 months of the season they'd have earned that home ice that Detroit has.

You're an idiot. Nay, scratch that. That's an insult to idiots.

[caraher]

12. Here's the history of Game 7 in the finals

From NBC:

Year Result Comment
2006 CAROLINA 3, Edmonton 1 Ward makes great late save on Pisani
2004 TAMPA BAY 2, Calgary 1 Fedotenko scored both Lightning goals
2003 NEW JERSEY 3, Anaheim 0 Home team won every game in the series
2001 COLORADO 3, New Jersey 1 Tanguay had 3 pts.; Bourque gets Cup
1994 NY RANGERS 3, Vancouver 2 Messier scored game-winner
1987 EDMONTON 3, Philadelphia 1 Oilers tallied one goal in each period
1971 Montreal 3, CHICAGO 2 Richard scored game-winner in third
1965 MONTREAL 4, Chicago 0 All goals in first period; Worsley got SO
1964 TORONTO 4, Detroit 0 Leafs' 3rd straight Cup; Bower got SO
1955 DETROIT 3, Montreal 1 Delvecchio scored two, Howe the other
1954 DETROIT 2, Montreal 1, OT Most recent Game 7 in final to go OT
1950 DETROIT 4, NY Rangers 3, 2OT First Game 7 in final to go OT
1945 Toronto 2, DETROIT 1 Pratt's PPG in third broke tie
1942 TORONTO 3, Detroit 1 Leafs rally from 3-1 down in series
Home team in capitals

I guess the league should have refused the Devils their 2003 cup victory...

By the way, assuming the 11 home teams winning all won at least one road game, that also implies they lost at least one home game. I think it's as rational to say "I have a problem with teams that choke at home in the finals" as it is to denigrate championship teams that did not win a final series game on the road. In which case one should say what, all 7-game victories are tainted?

On edit: I think this shows the increasing competitiveness among top teams in recent years. By decade you have the following numbers of 7-game finals:

1940-49: 2
1950-59: 3
1960-69: 2
1970-79: 1
1980-89: 1
1990-99: 1
2000-09: 5 (including this year, out of 9 playoff finals rather than 10)

The dominant teams of the past simply didn't get stretched to 7 games in the final... the Canadiens of the late 50s (5 straight) and late 70s (4 straight), the Islanders of the early '80s (4 straight) never did. The Gretzky-era Oilers went 7 just once.

[Forkboy]

9. What a pathetic argument.

You have more reasons why a team that loses is actually better than teams that win. I've never seen any sports fan (and I moderated a sports forum) try so many weasely ways to make a winning team sound like they don't deserve it, and to make losing teams sound like they're somehow better than the team that beats them. It's fucking sad, but it makes me laugh. At you though, not with you.

[SteelPenguin]

8. Nah it wouldn't be tainted

Yeah the pens had the best record down the stretch and if they had this game at home they'd be favored...but that's the breaks. It's not about what your record was down the stretch, that's why you play a whole season.

Over the course of the entire season, the Red Wings were the better team, taken as a whole, therefore they are favored with an extra home game. That's why you play well in the regular season, and the President's Trophy is so important.

If the Red Wings win on Friday they'll have earned the right to hoist the cup, just as the Pens will have earned it the same. It might be slightly more impressive to win game 7 on the road, but it doesn't make the Pens the better team if they do.

Just the winner.

Same for Detroit. I think it's been a really great series, and well played. The winner on Friday I think should get the respect they deserve for winning.

[Forkboy]

11. You're a real hockey fan, so you get it.

Upton, on the other hand...