Update (6:47 PM): The guys over at the FanHouse have posted their second round roundtable in which the first topic of conversation is the Wings/Avalanche series. - Matt
Update (3:23 PM): The Denver Post’s Adrian Dater has some pre-game comments here. - Matt
Update (3:07 PM): IwoCPO has keys to Game 1 here. - Matt
Update (3:00 PM): Tapeleg has a guide to the Avalanche for “temp fans” over at Jerseys and Hockey Love. - Matt
Update (2:10 PM): With Christy Hammond working the game for the Wings, Joe Hass will liveblog the game at Behind the Jersey again. - Matt
Update (1:15 PM): Ansar Khan has the projected lines and pairings for the Avalanche:
Wolski-Sakic-Brunette
Stastny-Forsberg-Hejduk
Smyth-Arnason-Jones
McLeod-Guite-LaperriereSauer-Foote
Salei-Leopold
Hannan-Liles
Also, Eric McErlain has posted a preview of the series at the Fanhouse. - Matt
Update (11:35 AM): Bruce MacLeod reports that Brad Stuart will not be in the lineup tonight. His wife has given birth to their second child (Logan Michael), but he won’t make it back to Detroit until later today. MacLeod says he will skate tomorrow and will play Saturday.
Andreas Lilja will fill in for Stuart tonight. It looks like he’ll be the only change to the lineup:
Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Franzen-Filppula-Samuelsson
Hudler-Draper-Cleary
Drake-Helm-McCartyLidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Lilja
Lebda-Chelios
- Matt
Tonight is Game 1 of Series “K” between the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche.
Playoff History
In five series between these two teams historically, Colorado has the edge 3-2, with a 17-13 record through 30 games. The teams last met in the postseason in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. The Wings came out on top in that series, winning in seven.
Regular Season Series
The Wings swept the season series 4-0 with wins December 27th (4-2), January 8th (1-0), February 1st (2-0), and February 18th (4-0).
The Avalanche
Colorado finished the regular season 44-31-7. Their 95 points were good for sixth place in the West.
They faced Minnesota in the first round. The first three games went to overtime, with the Wild taking a 2-1 series lead going into Game 4. The Avs then came back to win the series in six.
Forwards
Joe Sakic leads the forward corps in playoff scoring with 6 points (2G, 4A). Andrew Brunette, Wojtek Wolski, and Peter Forsberg each have five. Milan Hejduk and Ryan Smyth are not far behind with 4 and 3 points respectively.
There’s no denying that the Avs have a lot of skill up front. Forsberg proved the doubters wrong by notching 13 assists in nine regular season games. His production obviously tailed off a bit in the playoffs thus far, but he’s still looking better than a lot of people expected. Sakic remains a threat if for no other reason than that he’s got a wicked wrist shot and is one of the great leaders from his generation remaining in the game. Wolski is a shifty guy and Stastny is a stud, though his one playoff goal is a little underwhelming. Hejduk, Brunette and Smyth remain scoring threats. This is quite the solid group.
Defense
Trade deadline acquisition Ruslan Salei leads the Colorado blueline in points with four. He is joined by a strong defensive corps that includes Adam Foote, JM Liles, Kurt Sauer, Scott Hannan, Jordan Leopold, and Jeff Finger. Not as offensively-minded as the Wings’ defense, these guys are a tough and formidable group. As much as the Foote acquistion was derided and laughed at (guilty), it’s paid off as the defense has solidified.
Goaltending
Jose Theodore is the man in Denver now and posted a .940 save-percentage and 1.88 GAA in the first round (against a Lemaire-coached Wild team, mind you). He’ll be tough to beat.
Thoughts
It’s been remarked that the lineup the Wings will face tonight is a much-improved version of that which they faced during the regular season. That is definitely true. However, the Wings are also a different team than they were the last time these two teams faced off.
During the last two meetings, the Wings were without Niklas Kronwall and had not yet acquired Brad Stuart. During the fourth game, Nick Lidstrom was injured while the team was already without Dan Cleary and Brian Rafalski in addition to Kronwall. Those are significant and make it difficult to gauge this series. It should be remembered, though, that the Wings won that fourth game in the midst of their terrible February slump.
In my mind, the biggest addition to the Avs’ roster is Peter Forsberg. There have been some speedbumps along the way, but he’s healthy and producing. His performance in this series will have a lot to say in how it goes. He’s historically a Red Wings killer and is sure to elevate his play in this round. The Wings must shut him down and that’s going to be quite the job for the player who once was compared to the famous Swedish forward: Henrik Zetterberg.
The Wings will have to play their game to perfection because the Avs can skate with them as well as any other team in the League. Their secondary forwards will need to build on their first round performances in order to match the Avs’ deep forward corps. Players like Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, Darren McCarty and Dallas Drake will need to pound Forsberg, Hejduk, Stastny, Wolski, Smyth, and Company whenever they have the opportunity. Forsberg, in particular, can be goaded into visciousness and that should translate into power play opportunities.
The Wings beat a hot goaltender in the first round, but they’ll be up against one with a lot more experience this time around. Theodore is the other key to this series. He’s not going to be rattled easily and will be a definite challenge. Chris Osgood will need to match him save for save and more.
Although the rivalry is nothing it used to be, you can bet that emotions will run high. With both teams bringing back relics from the past, old memories will be stirred and bad blood will come to the surface pretty quickly.
Both teams go into this round knowing that they won’t have it easy and that they’ll have to come out firing on all cylinders. That should make for a great, tight series.
Links
George Malik – “preview-a-palooza”
Abel to Yzerman: “Oh, There Will Be Blood”
No Pun Intended: series preview
Colorado Avalanche Talk: series preview