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Peter the great Forsberg carries Avs past Coyotes, into second round
Posted: Monday May 08, 2000 11:20 PM
DENVER (Ticker) -- With the Colorado Avalanche at the top of their game and the Phoenix Coyotes in the postseason, it was only a matter of time. Riding stars Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy, red-hot Colorado advanced to the Western Conference semifinals and sent Phoenix to its 10th straight playoff series defeat with a 2-1 victory. The Avalanche, the 1996 Stanley Cup champions, needed only five games to advance to the conference semifinals for the fourth time in five years. Their opponent has not been determined. Forsberg set up a goal and scored the game-winner with 14:17 left, helping Colorado to its 11th win in 12 games. Roy stopped 19 shots for his NHL-record 114th playoff victory. The Coyotes, who won Game Four and led 1-0 tonight, dropped their 10th straight postseason series, dating to their days as the Winnipeg Jets. "It was a gritty series," Phoenix center Jeremy Roenick said. "We dug a hole going down 3-0. We tried but were against a great team." The Coyotes opened the scoring with 7:29 left in the second period when Roenick beat Roy with a blast from the top of the right faceoff circle.
Ozolinsh tied it with 95 seconds to play in the period when he took a 2-on-1 feed from Forsberg and snapped a shot past goaltender Sean Burke from the right hashmark. "Ozo's was a huge goal," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "That was the turning point for us." Behind a home crowd of 18,007, Colorado took the momentum into the third period. Forsberg broke the tie at 5:43 when he tipped Adam Foote's floating point shot by Burke for his only goal of the series. "It was not a typical goal for me," said Forsberg, who missed Game One with a bad shoulder. "It was a lucky goal, but I'll take it." "That was the best game I've seen him play in a while," Sakic added. "For a guy like him, it is only a matter of time before he turns it around." Roy, who faced only 20 shots, did the rest. He was sharp in the final three minutes, getting a pad on a pair of slap shots by defenseman Jyrki Lumme. Phoenix defenseman Keith Carney had the best chance at the equalizer with 75 seconds left but shot wide from the high slot with Roy out of the play. Carney slammed his stick along the boards seconds later after Roy corraled a shot by Lumme. Ray Bourque also had an assist for the Avalanche, who won the first-ever playoff series between the two teams. They lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars in seven games in last season's conference finals. Burke finished with 29 saves for the Coyotes, who last won a playoff series in 1987, when they ousted Calgary in the Smythe Division semifinals.
"You're reaching for things at this point to say," Phoenix coach Bobby Francis said. "We put it all on the table. There's nothing that we can say that can help us feel better. What can you say? We got beat by a better team."
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