Avalanche Playoff Report: Protect the puck

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

He said it "It's not a best out of three; it's a best out of seven." Jose Theodore, Avalanche goalie, on being down 2-0 in the series.

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It's hard to score goals when you hardly have the puck, a problem the Avalanche has encountered in all six meetings with the Red Wings this season.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise the Avalanche lost all six games, including the first two in the Western Conference semifinal series.

The best puck-possession team in the NHL, the Red Wings have been at their best in the series. Counting shots on goal, missed shots and those that have been blocked, the Red Wings attempted 128 shots in the first two games (76 were on net), while the Avalanche was held to 64 (41 on net).

"What we have to do is protect the puck better," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said Monday. "When we get into mistakes with the puck is when we try to make plays that aren't there rather than just getting it on net."

Only two Avalanche players - Sakic in both games and Paul Stastny on Saturday - have managed as many as three shots on goal in a game.

The Red Wings had six such players in each of the first two games. Henrik Zetterberg led the way Saturday with 10 shots; Johan Franzen had six and scored on three of them.

Home ice is nice

The Avalanche is counting on playing in friendly surroundings for an edge tonight and Thursday.

The Avalanche went 27-12-2 at the Pepsi Center during the regular season with nine wins in the final 10 home games before taking two of three at home from Minnesota in the conference quarterfinals.

"We still have a lot of belief in each other and our team," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We have to play much better than we did on Saturday and get some energy out of the crowd and just capture one game and put ourselves right back in the series."

But the Red Wings aren't too shabby on the road. They went 25-12-4 away from Detroit during the season and clinched their first-round series with Nashville with a 2-0 road win in Game 6.

"We know they are going to come out a lot harder," Franzen said. "It's almost certain that they are going to play better than they did (in Detroit). We have to be ready for them. We have to keep our shifts short and keep working."

Pat Rooney contributed to this report.

Red Wings at Avalanche

* When: 8 tonight.

* Where: Pepsi Center.

* What: Game 3, best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals. Red Wings lead the series 2-0.

* TV/radio: Altitude, Versus; KKFN-FM (104.3).

* Leading playoff scorers

Detroit (6-2) G A P

C Johan Franzen 7 3 10

D Niklas Kronwall 0 8 8

LW Henrik Zetterberg 4 3 7

C Pavel Datsyuk 3 4 7

C Jiri Hudler 2 5 7

Coach: Mike Babcock

Colorado (4-4) G A P

RW Milan Hejduk 3 3 6

C Joe Sakic 2 4 6

RW Andrew Brunette 3 2 5

LW Ryan Smyth 2 3 5

LW Peter Forsberg 1 4 5

Coach: Joel Quenneville

* Injuries: Detroit - C Tomas Kopecky (knee) and LW Kirk Maltby (hamstring) are out. Colorado - D Brett Clark (shoulder), RW Marek Svatos (knee) and LW Wojtek Wolski (upper body) are out; D Scott Hannan (foot) is questionable; Forsberg (groin) is day to day.

* Sidelight: The Avalanche would be in position to buck history with a loss tonight. Only the 1975 New York Islanders and 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have won Stanley Cup playoff series after losing the first three games.

* Notes: The Avalanche went 2-1 at home in the first round against Minnesota and outscored the Wild 9-5. . . . Sakic has 84 career playoff goals and needs one to tie Mike Bossy for sixth place on the all-time list. He has 184 playoff points and needs one to tie Steve Yzerman for eighth on that list.

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