NHL is ready for its close-up; is the public?

What's quicker than a Sidney Crosby shot, a Marc-Andre Fleury glove save, or Nicklas Lidstrom reading a play?

The reversal in media perceptions of the NHL.

Declared dead after the lockout of 2004-05, the league is now being hyped as prime for the mass-market breakthrough it has yearned for since Commissioner Gary Bettman was in short pants.

Its showcase event, the Stanley Cup finals, will begin Saturday in Detroit with Crosby and Fleury's whiz-kid Pittsburgh Penguins facing Lidstrom's savvy Red Wings. The games should be entertaining, with clear storylines:

Can the Penguins, whose scoring feats overshadow a solid defense, handle a veteran team whose players have won 23 championships? Detroit's Chris Chelios won his first title, with Montreal, in 1986, a year before Crosby was born.

The Penguins are unlikely finalists. They had a league-low 58 points in 2003-04, missed the playoffs after the lockout and, despite drafting Crosby in 2005, were in peril of being uprooted until they secured financing for a new arena last year. A few months later they tied up Crosby through 2012-13 and left themselves enough salary-cap space to retain Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and their young core.

The Red Wings have the history and wide fan base of an Original Six franchise. Their rebound from losing to the Ducks in last year's Western Conference finals is a tribute to General Manager Ken Holland, who has built a team that easily mixes tenacity and talent.

Broadcasters call this a dream scenario. The only better TV pairing would be a New York-Los Angeles series, but the Kings would have to make the playoffs for that to happen.

"It's a stellar matchup for us," said Gavin Harvey, president of Versus, the hard-to-find cable network that will air the first two games.

"I think the hockey gods are smiling so wide that we can count their missing teeth," said Mike Emrick, who will do play-by-play for Versus and NBC, which will air the rest of the finals.

During a conference call with NBC's hockey crew the other day there was much gushing over the final, and Emrick said "the moons are aligned properly" for the NHL to fortify its strongholds and win new fans. "The iron is hot. This is a perfect time right now for the NHL in the United States," he said.

Time out for rational thinking, please.

There's still no proof of great interest outside of Pittsburgh, Detroit, and fans already inclined to watch. And the NHL wouldn't be the NHL if it didn't sabotage itself here and there.