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Red Wings eventually slip a puck past Budaj

Aaron J. Lopez

Published February 2, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg scores on Peter Budaj with less than 3 minutes to play as Scott Hannan tries to defend during the Avalanche's 2-0 loss Friday. Budaj made 34 saves. "He played awesome," Hannan said. "We have to come up with a better effort for him."

Photo by Jerry S. Mendoza / Associated Press

Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg scores on Peter Budaj with less than 3 minutes to play as Scott Hannan tries to defend during the Avalanche's 2-0 loss Friday. Budaj made 34 saves. "He played awesome," Hannan said. "We have to come up with a better effort for him."

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The strategy, it seemed, was to lull the mighty Detroit Red Wings into a false sense of security.

Offer up an early five-on-three power play, get outshot by a 3-to-1 margin for much of the night and produce nothing on the power play.

Like some deranged version of the Jedi mind trick, it almost worked.

With Peter Budaj channeling his inner George Vezina, the Avalanche nearly pulled off one of the most unorthodox victories in franchise history Friday night.

And then Henrik Zetterberg and a crazy bounce foiled the plan.

Budaj stopped 34-of-35 shots, but Zetterberg's wraparound goal with 2:20 remaining lifted the Red Wings to a 2-0 victory in front of a sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena.

"The strategy was to come out hard and play them," Avalanche defenseman Scott Hannan said. "You can't be scared of a team like that. We played tentative for most of the game."

Tentative would be a generous term.

The Avalanche managed only four shots on goal in the first two periods, threatening to break the franchise record of nine set on Jan. 18, 1981, back when Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios was a wee lad of 18 years.

Colorado finished with 15 shots against another Red Wings relic, goalie Dominik Hasek, who turned 43 earlier in the week.

"He could have been 11," Colorado defenseman John-Michael Liles said. "We have to put forth a better effort than that offensively. We played decent defensively, but offensively we've got to put more pucks at the net and create more chances."

Despite their inability to create much in the Detroit zone, the Avs were still locked in a scoreless tie with less than 3 minutes left and had ambitions of stealing at least one point against the league's top team.

Zetterberg erased that notion when his wraparound shot from behind the net bounced off the stick of Colorado defenseman Jordan Leopold and past Budaj.

"Unfortunately, he got a lucky goal," Budaj said. "We played well. Unfortunately, we couldn't manage at least a point."

Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville pulled Budaj for an extra skater with about 70 seconds left, but Colorado could not get the equalizer before Kris Draper scored into an empty net with 13 seconds to go.

"(Peter) was great. He was special," Quenneville said. "It was too bad he didn't get rewarded. Certainly, you've got to commend him - not playing all this time and coming into this building and playing a special game."

Making his first start since Jan. 2, Budaj looked sharp in place of Jose Theodore, who did not travel on the team's two-game trip because of back spasms. Budaj will start again tonight in St. Louis.

"He played awesome," Hannan said. "We have to come up with a better effort for him. The amount of shots we had, you can't win games when you have that many shots."

Despite the shot discrepancy, which at one point reached 27-4, the Avalanche nearly took a 1-0 advantage into the third period.

Milan Hejduk appeared to score with 8.7 seconds left before the second intermission, but the goal was immediately waved off by referee Greg Kimmerly. To the protests of Colorado, Kimmerly ruled that Hannan made contact with Hasek before the puck crossed the goal line.

"It's a goal," Hannan said. "I don't even think I hit Hasek. I hit the side of the net. He flopped like he flops and they wanted to call it."

Quenneville was upset that Hannan had been pushed into the crease by defenseman Brett Lebda before making contact with Hasek. Kimmerly agreed but said Hannan didn't make an effort to get out of the crease.

"I didn't see any contact," Quenneville said. "It was a tough call. I disagreed with the call."

The call turned out to be pivotal in the final period. Colorado took 11 shots in the game's final 20 minutes, but it wasn't enough to prevent Hasek from recording his 80th career shutout and his ninth straight victory against Colorado.

"We were looking to steal one there, given the circumstances," Liles said. "But it's got to be a full 60 minutes, especially against a team like that. It can't be just 20 minutes. We were fortunate to be in the situation we were in."

Red Wings 2, Avalanche 0

Colorado0 0 0 - 0

Detroit0 0 2 - 2

First period - None. Penalties - Finger, Col, (cross-checking), 2:15; Budaj, served by Laperriere (delay of game), 2:43; Filppula, Det (hooking), 11:46; Laperriere, Col, (interference), 19:15.

Second period - None. Penalties - Lilja, Det (cross-checking), 1:31; McCormick, Col, (roughing), 3:54; Downey, Det (roughing), 3:54; Guite, Col, (roughing), 16:57.

Third period - 1, Det, Zetterberg 30 (Datsyuk, Rafalski), 17:40. 2, Det, Draper 9 (Datsyuk, Lidstrom), 19:47 (en). Penalty - Lilja, Det (hooking), 9:15.

Shots - Col 3-1-11 - 15. Det 14-9-13 - 36. Power plays - Col 0 of 3; Det 0 of 4. Goalies - Col, Budaj 14-9-2 (35 shots-34 saves). Det, Hasek 18-7-2 (15-15). A - 20,066 (20,066). T - 2:22. Referees - Greg Kimmerly, Mick McGeough. Linesmen - Brian Mach, Steve Miller.

lopezaa@RockyMountainNews.com

NUMBERS GAME

10shots taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the first 7 minutes of the game Friday night against the Avalanche. Colorado recorded its first shot on goal at the 11:20 mark.

SAUER NEARS RETURN

Avalanche defenseman Kurt Sauer, above, no longer finds himself going around in circles while standing still.

Sauer, recovering from whiplash and post- concussion symptoms, did not play Friday night but could return as early as tonight against the St. Louis Blues. He has not played since Nov. 30.

"I feel great out there," Sauer said after the morning skate Friday. "Granted, you don't take hits, you don't battle as hard (in practice), but that'll come. . . . When the coaches are comfortable putting me in, I'll be in there."

FORSBERG SEQUEL?

Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere said Friday that he has spoken to Peter Forsberg's agent about a possible return to Colorado, but the discussions were very preliminary.

"The ball's still in Peter's court," Giguere said. "I don't think he's even decided whether he will play in the NHL (this season)."

Forsberg, who helped the Avalanche win two Stanley Cups in 10 seasons in Colorado, has told his hometown team in Sweden that he will not play for it this year. The decision paves the way for him to return to the NHL.

Colorado is one of at least a dozen teams expected to pursue Forsberg in the coming weeks.

HE SAID IT

"My United card is getting some mileage. Hopefully, I can get a free trip in the summer."

T.J. Hensick, Avalanche rookie forward, who has been recalled from the minors four times this season.

Avalanche at Blues

* When: 6:30 MST tonight.

* Where: Scottrade Center, St. Louis.

* TV/radio: Altitude2; KKFN-AM (950).

* Leading scorers

Colorado (27-21-4) G A P

RW Milan Hejduk 18 19 37

LW Andrew Brunette 11 24 35

LW Wojtek Wolski 14 18 32

RW Marek Svatos 22 5 27

C Jaroslav Hlinka 5 15 20

Coach:

Joel Quenneville

St. Louis (24-19-7) G A P

LW Paul Kariya 12 33 45

RW Brad Boyes 29 13 42

C Keith Tkachuk 15 22 37

C Andy McDonald 9 23 32

RW Lee Stempniak 10 18 28

Coach:

Andy Murray

* Injuries: Colorado - G Jose Theodore (back spasms) is out; D Kyle Cumiskey (groin), C Joe Sakic (hernia surgery), LW Ryan Smyth (fractured right ankle) and C Paul Stastny (appendectomy) are on injured reserve. St. Louis - RW Mike Johnson (shoulder surgery) and LW Martin Rucinsky (shoulder) are on injured reserve.

* Sidelight: Quenneville is 6-4 against the Blues, whom he coached from 1997-2004. Four of those wins have come in Denver, while Quenneville is 2-3 as a visitor to the Scottrade Center.

* Notes: Colorado beat St. Louis 9-5 on Dec. 9 in the most recent meeting between the teams. . . . The matchup tonight could come down to a conditioning battle. Both teams played Friday night. . . . Blues goaltender Manny Legace is an Avalanche killer. He is 12-1 with a 1.85 goals-against average and a .938 saves percentage in 14 career games against Colorado. . . . The Avalanche and Blues have the league's least- effective power plays. Each went 0-for-3 Friday. Colorado is 29th, at 13.2 percent, and St. Louis is 30th, at 12.3 percent. . . . The Avalanche is 4-2 in the second of back-to-back games.

Comments

  • February 2, 2008

    9:51 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    benn writes:

    Bogus interference call

  • February 2, 2008

    10:03 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    queenjacyln writes:

    Another game decided by the Refs. Just like the game against the Wild with the phantom high stick call. If this is how they are going to call goalie interference then we might as well push all the opposing defenders into our goalies once the puck gets down low.

    Seriously though, why were those goals at least not looked at by the video booth? Why let the game be decided based on what the refs think they saw when they have the ability to give Toronto the call for seemingly every other situation?

  • February 2, 2008

    11 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    pcordoba writes:

    Only 4 shots until the third period. I don't remember that kind of performance. They don't deserve to win.
    Q, you stinks. It's all your fault. I don't know what's the the matter with Lacroix? Q must be fired. He's is killing The Avs image.
    They played like a little scared boys.

  • February 2, 2008

    1:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    irish4ever writes:

    I agree with most everything that has been posted regarding the game last night. I too thought that the interference call was bogus and should have been sent to Toronto for review. In Hannan's defense, it is hard to make an effort to get out of the way of Hasek (the "Flopper") when you are being pushed directly into him. If they are going to call weak crap like that, then we might as well start treating them like the NFL quarterbacks. This is Hockey not Figure Skating. As far as Coach Q goes, I agree that his leash should be getting shorter and shorter. The guy has never really won anything as a head coach in the league. He had some real talent in St. Louis, but could never get to the cup. Up until recently, I think he created more of the goaltender problems by ruining their psychy when he rotated them on a game by game basis. And the power(less) play!!! No team is going to far in the playoffs, if they make the playoffs, when you only score 1 powerplay every 25-30 opportunities. Personally, I think we were better off with Granato as the Head Coach than we have been with Q. I just hope that when we get healthy, things start to improve. If Q cannot win consistanly with Sakic, Smyth, and Stastny in the lineup.....give him his walking papers. Peace...Im out!!!