Now that the Detroit Red Wings finally have dispatched the Dallas Stars, 4-1, last night in the Western Conference final, the Penguins officially can begin to look forward to their opponent in the Stanley Cup series that begins Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Detroit is making an appearance in the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 2002, when the Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. The Penguins are making their first appearance in the final since 1992.

It doesn't always happen this way in the NHL playoffs, but it appears the two best teams in the league will be playing for the championship. Detroit won the NHL's President's Trophy for most points earned during the regular season and will have home-ice advantage for the series. The Penguins finished second in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Montreal.

This matchup is viewed as a best-case scenario for the NHL, which is trying to work its way back into the spotlight of the American sporting public. Each team has stars galore on its rosters and an entertaining up-and-down series is being forecast.

The Penguins are the young, up-and-comers with superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The majority of their players are on this stage for the first time. The Red Wings, meanwhile, have a bevy of veteran talent with Stanley Cup experience.

The series should prove to be an aesthetically pleasing matchup from a stylistic standpoint as each team has fast skaters and offensive arsenals with scoring potential up and down the lineups.

The Red Wings have a potent offense featuring Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Jiri Hudler and Tomas Holmstrom.

Franzen leads all scorers in the playoffs with 12 goals despite not having played in the past five games because of concussion-like symptoms. He has not been cleared to practice and is out indefinitely.

Zetterberg had 19 points and Datsyuk 18 before the game last night and ranked among the playoff scoring leaders.

Detroit has a veteran defense with a couple of well-known players leading the way. Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom is 38, but shows no signs of slowing down.

In the offseason, the Red Wings added Brian Rafalski, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the New Jersey Devils, to help on the blue line. And Niklas Kronwall, 27, of Sweden, has emerged as a premier playmaker with 12 assists before last night.

Veteran Chris Osgood has assumed the goaltending duties in the playoffs after sharing the job with Dominic Hasek in the regular season. Osgood had an NHL-best 1.65 goals-against average entering Game 6 last night. He will be going up against Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has a 1.70 goals-against average through 14 playoff games.

Until they lost consecutive games against the Stars last week, the Red Wings, not the Penguins, had been the hottest team in the NHL playoffs. Detroit won nine consecutive games before falling to the Stars in Game 4 in Dallas and in Game 5 in Detroit. It was the longest run by any team in 15 years.

The Red Wings won the final two games of their first-round series against Nashville, swept the Avalanche in the second round and won the first three games against the Stars.

Due to the NHL's unbalanced scheduling practice, the Red Wings and Penguins did not play in the regular season. They did meet twice in the preseason, with the Red Wings winning both times. They won, 1-0, in overtime and 5-2.

Just when the Red Wings lost consecutive games and were starting to look vulnerable, they bounced back strong in Game 6 of the Western Conference final, getting first-period goals from Kris Draper, Datsyuk and Dallas Drake.

Now Detroit goes from worrying about becoming the third team to blow a 3-0 series lead to trying to win its fourth championship in 11 seasons.

The Red Wings are the first recipient of the Presidents' Trophy to play for the Cup since they did so in 2002. That also was the previous time they were in the final.

Osgood improved to 10-2 this postseason. It was his 100th career playoff game and his 55th victory -- his 48th for Detroit, passing Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk for the franchise record.

"That was something that I wanted, one of my goals among others," Osgood said. "It was a special night."