from Craig Custance of ESPN,

It's a Red Wings franchise that continues to operate under the winning culture Yzerman helped build in the dressing room as a player, now enforced by former teammates Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and Pavel Datsyuk. It's a team making its 24th consecutive trip to the playoffs and one that knows its way around the postseason, something we're not entirely sure of yet about the Lightning. Detroit is a proud team, one that won't go down easily.

There will be a temptation to dub this the Yzerman Bowl, and his influence will no doubt be felt everywhere, but Stanley Cup playoff games aren't about executives. They're about the players on the ice, and this series is loaded with storylines and star power on both sides.

Let's dive in!

Fancy stats

This is going to be a battle for puck possession. The Red Wings are one of the original puck possession teams, long before terms such as Corsi and Fenwick were thrown around, so it's no surprise Yzerman has built the Lightning into a possession power as well.

At even strength, the Red Wings control 53.5 percent of shot attempts, the highest among any Eastern Conference playoff team. The Lightning are right behind, at 53.1 percent.

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