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Stanley Cup Capsule

Philadelphia (45-24-13) vs. Detroit (38-26-18)

1996-97 Series Record: Detroit 1-0-1

Outlook: The matchup is between one team hungry for a championship and one team desperate for one.

Philadelphia: The Flyers, whose current general manager Bobby Clarke was the team's captain when Philadelphia last lifted the Cup in 1975, have blown through the postseason with little adversity. Pittsburgh, Buffalo and the New York Rangers were unable to handle the Flyers' size during the Eastern Conference playoffs, and Philadelphia hammered their way to five-game victories in each series.

Flyers captain Eric Lindros (6-foot-4, 236 pounds), who has become the NHL's most dominant player at age 24, leads his team with 11 playoff goals and 23 points. Legion of Doom linemate John LeClair has seven goals, and second-line center Rod Brind'Amour has had a great playoffs with 10 goals.

The Flyers' strategy against Detroit will be simple: Use their size to hit and wear down the Red Wings and get to the net for easy goals. Philadelphia's only weakness could be in goal, where Ron Hextall had a resurgence during the Rangers series and supplanted Garth Snow as the No. 1 goaltender, but is prone to shaky performances.

Detroit: The Red Wings have not won the Cup since 1955, a 42-year drought that is the longest in the NHL. The past few seasons have been heartbreaking for Detroit. The Red Wings were the top Western Conference seed in 1994 but lost in the first round. They had the league's best record in 1995 and made the finals, but were swept by New Jersey.

They had the league's best record again last season, but lost to Colorado in the Western Conference finals. This year could be different, as coach Scotty Bowman reshaped his team. Bowman's club is much bigger, a change from seasons past. The acquisition of left wing Brendan Shanahan (47 goals) and the development of Darren McCarty, along with the emergence of hard-hitting defenseman Aaron Ward and Vladimir Konstantinov, gave Detroit the toughness to reach the finals again.

The ``Russian Five'' unit of Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Konstantinov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Viacheslav Fetisov has been huge for Detroit; the team is unbeaten in the playoffs when one of the Russians scores. Bowman's team still relies on its ``left wing lock'' defensive system that has worked to near perfection during the playoffs.

Bowman's best move this season was the decision to go with veteran goaltender Mike Vernon during the playoffs, instead of Chris Osgood. Vernon has shown the form that helped Calgary to the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Prediction: This may be the Red Wings' best chance yet to end their championship drought, but the Flyers have the best players, and that's usually what decides the Stanley Cup champion. Lindros is on a mission to bring home his first Cup, and no one has come close to stopping him so far.

Flyers in 6