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Friday, May 5 8:00pm ET
Avs rumble into conference finals | |||||
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BOX SCORE
DENVER (AP) -- Peter Forsberg 5, Steve Yzerman 0.
Forsberg's fifth goal of the playoffs -- and his fourth game-winner -- helped Colorado claim the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series 4-1. The Avalanche advance to the conference finals against either Dallas or San Jose. Dallas leads that series 3-1. It marked the second straight year Colorado ousted its archrival in the second round. Since moving from Quebec in 1995, the Avalanche are 4-0 in second-round series. "Sometimes you score a bunch of goals and never get a game-winner," Forsberg said, "so I'll take it." Forsberg's first game-winner came in the clinching game of the first-round series against Phoenix. His other three came in each of Colorado's home games in this series. "It has been a bad season for me," Forsberg said, referring to a spate of injuries during the regular season. "I've been looking forward to the playoffs. I wasn't feeling that great coming into the playoffs, but I'm playing better and better. Hopefully, we'll get a few days off now and go for the next round." Yzerman, who has scored 627 career goals but who failed to score a goal in either the first-round series against Los Angeles or against Colorado, was dejected after the loss. "You never enjoy losing," he said. "We were close, just not quite good enough. That is what is disappointing. We are frustrated because we played pretty hard and had a good effort. We just didn't get it done. "We couldn't finish off our scoring chances. We couldn't make a pass or make a play when we needed to. We tried and tried." Colorado defenseman Adam Foote was on the ice for most of Yzerman's even-strength shifts in the series, and Detroit coach Scotty Bowman called Foote a "smart, hard-nosed player. He had a big series. There wasn't much room on the ice." The Avalanche, who have won 16 of their last 18 games, won for the second straight game without veteran defenseman Ray Bourque, who is out with a knee injury sustained in Game 3. Since Bourque was acquired from Boston on March 6, Colorado has gone 20-4-1. Forsberg's goal at 4:40 of the third period gave the Avalanche a 3-1 lead. Barely a minute later, Detroit's Brendan Shanahan made it 3-2, but Colorado's fourth line produced an insurance goal as Shjon Podein scored on a rebound at 9:01. Colorado's Patrick Roy, extending his NHL record for playoff victories to 118, had 20 saves. Chris Osgood had 21 saves. Colorado's Bob Hartley, the first coach to beat Bowman in back-to-back playoff series, praised his goalie. "Patrick has given us tons of big saves at key moments, and his confidence is contagious in the dressing room," Hartley said. "Right now I feel like I'm moving very well in the net," Roy said. "It's probably the best I've felt all year. "The guys in front of me have been very sharp, and I feel like we're playing really smart hockey. We don't make it tough on ourselves. If we have to dump the puck in, we dump the puck in. We're doing the small things that make the difference between winning and losing." Neither team mounted any serious scoring threats in a tentative first period that saw Colorado outshoot Detroit 8-5. Osgood was penalized for slashing midway through the period, and during that advantage Colorado got off three shots, including a hard shot by Chris Drury. Colorado's Joe Sakic and Stephane Yelle scored in the second period, and Detroit's Larry Murphy countered with a short-handed goal. Adam Deadmarsh, beating Steve Yzerman on a faceoff in the Detroit end, got the puck to Sakic, who scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot from just outside the right circle at 2:46. The goal came only eight seconds after Nicklas Lidstrom went off for tripping and was Sakic's 100th career playoff point. Later in the period, Osgood made a sprawling save to rob Sakic from the slot. At 10:01, Aaron Miller launched a long shot from beyond the right circle, and Yelle tapped in the rebound for a 2-0 lead. Moments later, Colorado threatened to pad its lead when Shanahan was penalized for high-sticking. But Murphy took a pass from Igor Larionov and beat Roy from close range. Murphy's short-handed goal was his 150th career playoff point. Forsberg's 40-foot rocket sailed over Osgood's left shoulder early in the final period. Shanahan scored from the slot after a deflection at 6:13. Three minutes later, Eric Messier kept a play alive by beating Lidstrom to the puck to prevent an icing call, then got the puck to rookie Serge Aubin. Aubin's shot from the left circle rebounded out front, where Podein tipped it in. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Detroit Clubhouse Colorado Clubhouse Wings coach Bowman not certain about his future
RECAPS Colorado 4 Detroit 2 AUDIO/VIDEO   Peter Forsberg fires a bullet past Chris Osgood.avi: 568 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Joe Sakic scores off the faceoff.avi: 694 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Larry Murphy scores the short-handed goal.avi: 690 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Shjon Podein gets the insurance goal.avi: 734 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Brendan Shanahan beats Patrick Roy.avi: 741 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   Patrick Roy credits the defensemen for the win.wav: 198 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Coach Bob Hartley credits Patrick Roy for his play and confidence.wav: 88 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Martin Lapoint felt Detroit lacked the offense to win.wav: 136 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 For Steve Yzerman and the Wings, the opportunities were there.wav: 106 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6   | |||||
