By DAN FENNER

Sports Editor

The Detroit Red Wings begin their defense of the Stanley Cup on Thursday as they open postseason play with a series matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are making their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

At first glance, Columbus would appear to be an inferior opponent for high-scoring Detroit, but when you consider all the trouble that the Blue Jackets provided for the Red Wings during the regular season, it isn’t difficult to envision a series that extends longer than most people anticipate.

Columbus has the benefit of a goaltender who is enjoying a spectacular freshman campaign, that will likely end in Rookie of the Year honors. The Wings know all too well that they can lose a playoff series despite routinely outshooting their opponents two-to-one on most nights (see Edmonton in 2006, Calgary in 2004, and Anaheim in 2003.)

The key for the Red Wings will be neutralizing Columbus forward Rick Nash, as he is the only dynamic forward the team has to contend with. Nash had two hat tricks against Detroit during this regular season.

The Red Wings will be hoping for major postseason contributions from Johan Franzen again, especially after he signed a stunning, eleven year contract extension last weekend. Franzen, famously nicknamed “The Mule,” was one of four 30-goal scorers for the Red Wings this season, and will play a pivotal role along with Tomas Holmstrom in screening the young goalie Mason’s vision. Detroit will need traffic in front of the net as Mason seems likely to stop every shot he can see clearly.

It will be interesting to see how frequently Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk play on the same line. They are dominant when together, but a case can be made for splitting them up and having each of them center their own scoring line.

The success and failures of the team will come down to goaltending. Chris Osgood led the team to a championship just last June, but is coming off the worst season of his career. The Wings will need him to provide consistency in the net in order to advance deep in the playoffs this year. Coach Mike Babcock will likely not hesitate to make the switch to backup Ty Conklin if Osgood struggles out of the gate.

In the end, the Blue Jackets will probably have too much trouble matching the offensive output of the Red Wings, but close games are to be expected.

Prediction: Wings in 6.