(Sports Network) - After nearly two months of playoff battles, the Stanley Cup finals get underway in "Hockeytown" tonight as the Detroit Red Wings welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to Joe Louis Arena for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

The Red Wings come into this series as the favorites, having won the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best record in the NHL during the regular season. The distinction also gives Detroit home-ice advantage in this series.

Pittsburgh was the Atlantic Division champion and the second-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.

Both teams took impressive paths to the Cup finals this year, as the Penguins rolled through the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 12-2 record and Detroit claimed the West championship by winning 12 of 16 games. The Red Wings even set a franchise record at one point with nine consecutive victories this postseason.

Detroit defeated Nashville in six games during the opening round, swept Colorado in the following series, and beat Dallas in six tests of the conference finals.

The Penguins swept Ottawa in the first round and defeated the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers in five games during the conference semifinals and finals, respectively.

The Red Wings will host Games 1 and 2 in the Motor City, where the club is 7-1 this postseason after notching a league-best 29-9-3 home mark during the regular season.

Pittsburgh is 4-2 as the visiting team in the playoffs and was 21-17-3 during the regular season.

Game 2 is scheduled for Monday night at the Joe.

Through the first two round of the playoffs the Red Wings were led on offense by the prolific goal-scoring of Johan Franzen. However, the Swedish centerman hasn't played since suffering concussion-like symptoms in Game 1 against Dallas. Despite missing the last five games, Franzen still leads all NHLers with 12 goals in this year's playoffs.

Franzen is also out for the opener of the Stanley Cup finals, but his situation has improved and the Red Wings are hoping for his return against Pittsburgh at some point.

With Franzen out for most of the Dallas series, the Red Wings were led by their top line of centerman Henrik Zetterberg and wingers Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom.

Zetterberg is tied with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby for the most points in this year's playoffs with 21 (11 g, 10a), and had four goals and four assists in the Dallas series. Datsyuk has nine goals and 10 helpers in the postseason, and notched four goals and two assists in the conference finals.

Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood has also been superb in the playoffs, posting a 10-2 record, 1.60 GAA and .931 save percentage.

This season for the Penguins, Crosby became the youngest captain in NHL annals, as he was awarded the "C" as a 20-year old. Although he missed 29 games with a high ankle sprain during the 2007-08 regular season, Crosby has made up for his absence by notching 21 points (4 goals, 17 assists) in 14 games during the conference playoffs.

The Penguins have a terrific second-line center in Evgeni Malkin. The rookie of the year in 2006-07 as the Calder Trophy winner, Malkin wiped out any notion of a sophomore slump with a 106-point season this year. The 21-year-old Russian center has carried that success into the postseason and has 19 points (9g, 10a) in 14 games.

Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has been lights-out between the pipes since returning from an ankle injury in late February. He went 10-2-1 to close out the regular season and is 12-2 with a 1.70 GAA and .932 save percentage in the playoffs. The 6-foot-2 Quebec native has also recorded three shutouts so far in this postseason.

The Penguins will play the opener without veteran winger Gary Roberts. Roberts, whose season has been pock-marked with injury, was given word from Pittsburgh head coach Michel Therrien Friday that he will be scratched from the lineup when the chase for the Cup begins on Saturday in Detroit.

The 42-year-old rebounded from a broken leg suffered in the regular season as well as various maladies in the playoffs to post two goals and three points in six contests. He missed the final three games of the Penguins' series against the Flyers with pneumonia.

Because of the NHL's unbalanced schedule, Pittsburgh and Detroit have met sparingly during the regular season in recent years and the clubs have never faced off in the playoffs. The teams didn't play in 2007-08, but Detroit has won the last two meetings and five of six overall.

Crosby has played in just two career games against Detroit and managed just one assist in those outings. Malkin has yet to face the Red Wings.