Pirate Galaxy » miss Melancon but is confident in his b

CHICAGO -- The top of the list includes Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa. Patrick Sharp is coming off another great playoff series, and Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland have come up with big post-season goals in the past. The Chicago Blackhawks have waves of talented lines, making them a difficult matchup for any team. Months after Nicklas Lidstrom retired, they pose quite the challenge for the Detroit Red Wings. When one of the NHLs biggest rivalries resumes in the playoffs on Wednesday night, there will be a lot of talk about the play of goalies Corey Crawford of Chicago and Jimmy Howard of Detroit. The Blackhawks are going to have to find a way to shut down the Detroit trio of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen. But Chicagos deep group of forwards against Detroits refurbished defence could go a long way to deciding the 16th post-season series between the proud Original Six franchises. "Theres going to be a test there for them," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We just try to keep making progress. Weve had good growth on our team all year long and it has to continue to happen." Detroit lost decades of experience when Lidstrom announced his retirement a year ago. The seven-time Norris Trophy winner helped the Red Wings to four Stanley Cups and is among the best defencemen to ever play the game. Lidstroms absence left a giant hole in front of Howard, but Detroit then decided to trade Brad Stuart to San Jose in June because he made it clear that he wanted to be closer to his family. Down Lidstrom and Stuart, the Red Wings had to rely on a mix of young and unproven defencemen to provide key minutes. Due in part to the evolving lines in the back, Detroits annual appearance in the playoffs was in jeopardy until it won the last four games of the regular season to secure the seventh spot in the West and extend the longest active post-season streak in major professional sports to 22 straight seasons. "They got better as the season went on, and they got better as the playoffs went on," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "They always play a really responsible team game and I think their whole team game helps their defence as well." While the Red Wings squeaked past the Ducks in the first round of the post-season, Chicago rolled over Minnesota in five games. Eight players had at least one goal and 15 recorded at least one point as the Blackhawks outscored the Wild 17-7, including an 8-1 margin over the final two nights. It was a continuation of the regular season for Chicago, which finished second to Pittsburgh with 149 goals while rolling to the Presidents Trophy and home-ice advantage for as long as its around in the NHL playoffs. "I think we know its going to be a tough series," Zetterberg said. "They played well all regular season. They took care of Minnesota pretty quick and theyve been resting for a few days. Its going to be a challenge for us, for sure, but the same way, if we play the way we want and do all the little things right, we have a chance." The series opener against Detroit will be the first game for Chicago since it closed out Minnesota with a 5-1 victory on Thursday. The Blackhawks used all that time to rest, but it also allowed Quenneville to take a look at a couple different line combinations -- providing even more material for Detroit to consider. Bolland is healthy again after he missed the first-round series with a lower-body injury, and he is expected to centre Chicagos third line. Quenneville also said Michal Handzus is fine after he missed two days of practice. Viktor Stalberg, one of the fastest skaters on the team, has been working outside of the top four lines in practice, so his role against Detroit is up in the air. "I really dont have anything to say about it," Stalberg said. "Ask Q." Asked about what Stalberg can do to get back in the lineup, Quenneville responded: "Stay ready, stay ready. Nobody said hes out of the lineup, but keep yourself, make decisions tough on us." Stalberg had nine goals and 14 assists in 47 games this season, then had a big assist and a plus-2 rating while playing all five games in the first round against Minnesota. Its quite a luxury for Quenneville to consider leaving him off the top four lines, but such is life for the Blackhawks this season. Its also quite the problem for Detroit. 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Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions.SAN FRANCISCO -- When Mike Rizzo and Dusty Baker called Mark Melancon on Saturday from the visiting clubhouse at AT&T Park, one thing that impressed them right away about their new All-Star closer is that he planned to immediately check in with Jonathan Papelbon.It says a lot about his character and makeup, and that was a big reason why he was such an attractive target to us, said Rizzo, Washingtons general manager. His performance level is great but his makeup and character are a lot of the reason that we went out and got him. That tells me hes team-first and Mark Melancon second.Washington sent reliever Felipe Rivero and pitching prospect Taylor Hearn to the Pirates to acquire Melancon, who supplants the struggling Papelbon as Washingtons closer. Rizzo and Baker also spoke to Papelbon, who made it clear he wants to win, Baker said.Melancon is expected to join the Nationals on Sunday for their series finale at San Francisco.Pittsburgh general manager Neal Huntington tried to tell Melancon he had been traded. And tried. And tried.I felt bad because I missed his call three times because my phone was on silent, so I woke up to that, the reliever said after he awakened from his nap and learned of the deal.A 31-year-old right-hander, Melancon has converted 30 of 33 saves with a 1.51 ERA this season and joins his fifth organization in eight years. He is making $9.65 million and is eligible for free agency after the World Series; as part of the swap, the Pirates will pay Washington $500,000 on Sept. 1.Once considered a possible successor to Mariano Rivera when he broke into the majors with the New York Yankees in 2009, Melancon said during the All-Star break he knew a trade was possible, given his contract status.The move comes as the Pirates find themselves on the fringe of the wild-card race. While general manager Neal Huntington stressed the team remains committed to reaching the playoffs for a fourth straight season, the opportunity to deal Melancon -- who led the majors with 51 saves in 2015 and had 33 in 14 -- for two young arms with friendly long-term contracts was too good to pass up.Bakers bullpen is taxed.Were getting some reinforcements, he said of Melancon.Rivero is under team control through 2021 and hit 100 mph on the radar gun regularly during an extended relief appearance against the Pirates this month. If Melancon left as a free agent, Pittsburgh would have received a high draft pick as compensation.We knew full well that holding Mark Melancon would have been a good return, but at the end of the day we felt this was a better return for us, Huntington said.dddddddddddd.This was the well-traveled Melancons fourth season in Pittsburgh after he also pitched for Houston, Boston and the Yankees.He will move his family once more -- his wife and three kids.This has been a blast. Pittsburgh has a special place in heart. My family has been treated so well, Melancon said. The experiences weve had, just running through my mind all the wild-card games, just big games that weve been in. From where we started, to where we are now, it is an honor. It is an honor to be a Pirate. We got to go through those experiences together. My teammates are my best friends.Papelbon is 2-4 with a 4.41 ERA and has allowed eight runs and seven hits in his past three outing. Manager Dusty Baker wouldnt say earlier Saturday whether Papelbon still was his closer. Baker pulled Papelbon from a game Thursday in the ninth inning.Rivero, a 25-year-old lefty, is 0-3 with a 4.53 ERA this season. Hearn is a 21-year-old lefty who was the Nationals fifth-round pick in the 2015 amateur draft.Pittsburgh will plug the 25-year-old Rivero into a seventh-inning role, with Neftali Feliz working the eighth and Tony Watson in the ninth. Watson was an All-Star in 2014 in a set-up role and will take over a position where Pittsburgh has enjoyed plenty of success during its rise from mediocrity. Each of its previous three closers: Melanon, Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan, made the All-Star team wearing black and gold.Manager Clint Hurdle will miss Melancon but is confident in his bullpen options.I love the guy, love the family. Happy we had him. He helped us, I believe we helped him, Hurdle said. We are not giving up anything, we arent lowering the bar. We are not settling. Our organization made a baseball trade, with confidence that our bullpen is going to be in a good place. We are going to be able to compete this year, we are going to be able to add to our competition level in the years to come.Huntington hinted the team may try to take the money it will save by not paying the remaining portion of Melancons contract and use it before Mondays trade deadline. The Pirates need help in the starting rotation, which has been forced to turn to rookies Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow quickly as established players Jeff Locke, John Niese and Juan Nicasio faltered.---AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum, AP Sports Writers Will Graves and Stephen Whyno and AP freelance writer Anthony Totoraitis contributed to this report. ' ' '