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New-look Avs thriving on defense
Posted: Saturday May 20, 2000 08:25 PM
DENVER (AP) -- Once a free-wheeling, offensive-minded team, the Colorado Avalanche are cruising through the playoffs on the strength of old-fashioned, bone-jarring defense. They showed their defensive prowess again Friday night, beating the Dallas Stars 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals. Game 4 is Sunday in Denver, where the Avalanche are 7-0 in the postseason. Friday's shutout was Colorado's second in three games in the series, enabling goaltender Patrick Roy to tie an NHL record with his 15th career playoff shutout. He matched the mark set by Clint Benedict of Ottawa and the Montreal Maroons in the 1920s, and also extended his NHL record for playoff victories to 120. As magnificent as he has been, there is, of course, much more to Colorado's defense than Roy. The acquisition of Hall of Fame-bound defenseman Ray Bourque -- along with Dave Andreychuk -- from Boston on March 6 has energized the Avs, who were only three games over .500 at the time of the trade but who have gone 22-5-1 since. Adam Foote, the team's most dependable and toughest defender, has raised his game in the playoffs, so much so that the eye injury that sidelined him for Game 3 caused widespread consternation. Foote, wearing a medium-length plastic shield, practiced with his team Saturday and said he felt good, but he has not been given medical clearance to resume playing. Bourque helped compensate for Foote's absence, returning to the lineup Friday night after missing four games with a sprained left knee. He didn't miss a beat, playing 35 minutes, 35 seconds as the Avalanche defense smothered the Stars. Dallas' top four scorers in the playoffs -- Brett Hull, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner -- failed to get off any shots in the first two periods. Modano, who scored twice in Dallas' 3-2 victory in Game 2, didn't get a shot the entire game. High-scoring forwards Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg have sacrificed offense to help out in the defensive end. Roy even got into the act Friday night, throwing a hip check on Dallas' Mike Keane behind the net. "I like the way we're playing," Roy said Saturday. "It's fun to see the commitment that everybody is making to play solid defense. I think that's the way for us to succeed." Colorado coach Bob Hartley said his team "improved a lot defensively throughout the season, and that's showing positive results so far in the playoffs." Defenseman Aaron Miller, paired with Bourque while Foote is sidelined, said his team has undergone a philosophical transformation. "I think everybody has realized that defense has to come first," Miller said. "You look at the teams that have won the Stanley Cup the last couple of years, and that's how they did it. They obviously had offensive skill, but they took care of their own end first. And that's what we're doing. "We're comfortable winning low-scoring games this year, as opposed to the past when it was more wide open. Right now, we're keeping it tight and solid. It's been pretty much like this for the last couple of months here. There's a total commitment to defense." Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock, who praised Colorado's emotion and focus after Game 3, said his team will make the necessary adjustments, including some line changes. "We've got to treat tomorrow's game as a sudden-death game," Hitchcock said. In Colorado's victories in Game 1 and 3, Hitchcock said, "they were more committed defensively than we were. Their positioning was stronger. Their puck movement was stronger in the right areas, and ours was weaker. As much as you talk about the shots, one of the reasons they got all those shots [40 in Game 3) is they were in perfect position defensively and we weren't." One of the positives for the defending Stanley Cup champion Stars is the play of goalie Ed Belfour. "I told our players this: We wasted a hell of an effort by a goaltender last night," Hitchcock said. "He was terrific. The last two games he's been outstanding. That's what is disappointing for me. I don't think you get those types of effort very often. He point-blank stopped about six or eight glorious opportunities."
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