Red Wings and Devils know how to win at playoff time

	Future Hall of Famer Chris Chelios, playing in his record 22nd postseason, personifies the Red Wings as playoff mainstays. AP
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Measure the return of April with three consistencies: leaves are coming back (hooray), the taxman is back (ah, crud) and the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings are back in the playoffs.

On Thursday night, the Devils went to work and bounced the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 in a game that seemed utterly routine for them -- because it is. The Red Wings did the same to the Calgary Flames with a solid 4-1 drubbing that wasn't as close as the score indicated.

With one exception (the Devils in 1996), New Jersey and Detroit have been in the postseason every year since 1990. During that stretch, they've won three Stanley Cups apiece. When you look at the contenders for this year's prize, you can't overlook teams that have been through the wars before. Another thing: forget the regular season. The Lightning won the season series against the Devils, three games to one. The Flames split theirs with the Wings, 2-2.

But these are the playoffs. And teams that have been there before can morph into steeled champs. Take the Wings. Wasn't Detroit supposed to be soft in the middle this year? Weren't the Flames supposed to be able to throw some grit out there against Detroit's skill players and pound them into submission?

Well, the Wings outhit the Flames in Game 1. Consider one sequence in which Mathieu Schneider, a defenseman who is not overly physical, bounced Matthew Lombardi early in the first period just before Henrik Zetterberg, a charter member of the Wings' finesse skill line, nailed Calgary's Rhett Warriner. The Flames were the ones trying to do too much, taking penalties in frustration. And did you expect the Flames to try to ruffle Dominik Hasek's feathers when the game was out of reach?

Actually, the Wings were the ones who looked like they were playing for Game 2, when Dan Cleary nudged Flames' goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, sending both teams into a scrum. Hasek set the tone early when he stopped Craig Conroy twice on good shorthanded opportunities. Kiprusoff then made some brilliant saves in the second period, gloving Tomas Holmstrom's one-timer and sprawling to turn back Pavel Datsyuk, but the Wings stayed in total command, outshooting Calgary (46-20) -- a team that was supposed to be able to stifle good offensive foes. Detroit was in the zone all night, with an aggressive forecheck that looked a lot like the kind the Flames employed successfully against them.