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Pressure's off as Avalanche wins to reach playoffs

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 1, 2008 at 10:28 p.m.

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The Avalanche's Peter Forsberg, right, who scored his first goal since returning to the team, checks Willie Mitchell on Tuesday.

Photo by Jeff Vinnick / Nhli Via Getty Images

The Avalanche's Peter Forsberg, right, who scored his first goal since returning to the team, checks Willie Mitchell on Tuesday.

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The roller-coaster ride that has symbolized the frenetic Western Conference playoff race was running at full speed Tuesday night.

The Avalanche seemed virtually assured of clinching a postseason berth about two hours before the team even faced off against the Vancouver Canucks at General Motors Place.

But that changed as quickly as the standings seem to do on a daily basis when Nashville turned a 3-0 first-period deficit in St. Louis into a 4-3 overtime win.

A Predators loss in regulation would have secured a playoff spot for the Avalanche.

So the Avalanche, left to its own devices, overcame a 2-0 deficit with four consecutive goals - including one on a breakaway by Peter Forsberg - for a 4-2 win that cemented the team's 11th playoff appearance in 12 seasons since arriving in Denver.

"We knew before the game that Nashville was going to OT and then someone said they won," said right wing Milan Hejduk, who had a goal and an assist. "So we knew that we had to take care of our business ourselves. It's a better feeling this way."

With one game remaining - Sunday's match against Northwest Division-leading Minnesota - the Avalanche is in sixth place in the West and can finish no worse than seventh.

"It feels great," coach Joel Quenneville said. "This is what we play for all year long. This was our motivation from the outset. We had no assurances, no guarantees. So it's rewarding right now.

"I thought the guys have been very resilient in handling adversity, be it the injuries or the up-and-down parts of our season. But the most noticeable thing is when we had all those injuries, we kept ourselves in the mix and in the race, and it has paid off."

Trailing 2-0 early in the second period, the Avalanche responded with goals by John-Michael Liles, Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski to take the lead.

Then Forsberg, after a turnover by Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell, took a pass from Andrew Brunette and skated in alone on Roberto Luongo. He chipped the puck over the goalie's glove at 4:53 of the third period for his first goal since rejoining the Avalanche last month.

"Joe (Sakic) asked me if I wanted to keep the puck," Forsberg said with a laugh. "At first I had to think about it. No, it's OK. I don't think I should keep that one. But it was definitely great to get a goal, especially after so many games and with the playoffs coming up. It's great for the confidence to get a goal."

Liles started the comeback with a power-play goal at 9:13 of the second period. Luongo was down in the crease when Liles shot the puck over him from the slot.

The Avalanche went ahead when Hejduk and Wolski scored 35 seconds apart.

Forsberg gained control of the puck in the Avalanche end after Mitchell broke his stick while taking a slap shot from the point. Forsberg stickhandled into the Canucks zone and passed to Hejduk, who beat Luongo to the far corner from near the left hash marks.

The Avalanche caught a break to snap the 2-2 tie. When Sakic fired a shot that ricocheted off the end boards, the puck came to Wolski and he whacked it behind Luongo with 5:28 remaining in the period.

The Canucks outshot the Avalanche 10-4 in the third period and 29-20 for the game, but goalie Jose Theodore was solid in picking up his 27th win.

"It feels good," he said. "The last two months, it's pretty much been a playoff mentality and it's going to be good to have a couple days not to think about hockey. You have to rest your body and also your mind to be ready for the playoffs."

The Canucks took their 2-0 lead on goals by Mitchell and Ryan Kesler.

"We were down 2-0, but in this league it's not really a big lead," Theodore said. "You can come back and that's exactly what we did."

FOOTE INJURED: Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote suffered a cut right ear midway through the third period when he was hit with a puck. He bled profusely and held a towel over his ear while being assisted off the ice by trainer Matt Sokolowski. "He sliced his ear pretty good," Quenneville said. "He got stitched up and he should be OK."

NUMBERS GAME

29 consecutive starts for Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who has started 37 of Vancouver's past 38 games.

CANUCKS KILLER

Milan Hejduk has had more success against the Canucks in his NHL career than any other team. The Avalanche right wing has 29 goals - nine game-winners - and 46 points in 48 games against Van- couver. He had one goal and one assist Tuesday, giving him five goals and three assists in eight games this season.

"I don't feel like there is anything different," Hejduk said. "The stats say that I'm scoring more against them than any other team for some reason. Some teams fit your game or something. I don't know if it's pure luck. A lot of people mention it, but I don't know what's really behind it. Usually, I feel pretty good in Vancouver. Most of the time, our team plays well here and that helps me."

FUN TO FOLLOW

The playoff races in both conferences are so tight, it can be difficult to keep track where teams stand on a daily basis.

"There's no doubt that right now it's exciting for the fans to pick up the paper every morning and see teams bouncing around," Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote said. "A lot of people are focused on it right now and can't wait to see the highlights. And I think that's good for the game. The way they set up the schedule, it's harder to get a gap when everybody's playing each other every night."

HE SAID IT

"Every single game over the last two months has been our biggest game of the year."

Joel Quenneville, Avalanche coach.

Comments

  • April 2, 2008

    8:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    GJrodburner writes:

    I know that the final game of the regular season will not be as big of a downer as last season's final game was; thank goodness for that! I can't put a "when it happened" moment as to when Peter Forsberg put his stamp back on this team, but with the goal he scored last night against the skanucks on the break away, that was just the icing on the cake. I've really tried to think of other pro hockey players that could skate with gorillas on their backs and still send a perfect tape-to-tape pass to a team mate who is buried in the crease or out in open ice winding up to slam it home, but Peter is the best I've ever seen. What the "Production Line" has been doing down the stretch run will be video fodder for all of the opposing teams in the W.C.P's that run up against the Aves, so I do hope that coach Q and Granato are not setting on their hands, and have also taken the time to look at the Ducks, Wings, and the Sharks defensive game plans. With that said, because I don't want to complain about the Aves after all they went through to make the dance, they did put it all together last night and won in an extremely tough venue, and did it with skill and brawn, and yes even some luck, but win they did!!!

    Satisfaction is never a guarantee in any pro sport, but more so in hockey, but it was as sweet as I've ever tasted with last nights win in Vancouver as an Avalanche fan.

  • April 2, 2008

    10:33 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    RustyWon writes:

    Get your HD screen cleaned and ready; the playoffs start next week!
    Awesome.
    The quest for Lord Stanley's Cup is about the best thing going in sports these days.

    The Avalanche are in a position to do well in the playoffs, but I hope they can avoid a first round meeting with the Sharks.

    GO Avs!

  • April 2, 2008

    12:26 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dilligaf writes:

    Now I'm a big Forsberg fan but does this mean he will be out for a game or two with an injury?

  • April 3, 2008

    noon

    Suggest removal

    jenkrom writes:

    Forsberg is a great addition to a great team. Foote and Forsberg is the kick that we needed to take the game to the next level. Now let's have some fun.

    Go Avs!