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Slumping Sakic Avalanche remain confident in captain's line
Posted: Tuesday May 23, 2000 11:51 AM
DENVER (AP) -- Despite a scoring slump, Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic had the confidence of his coach heading into Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night. Sakic had racked up only one point in the first four games of the best-of-seven series with the Dallas Stars. That point came on a power-play assist in Game 3 when he wasn't out with his normal line. Milan Hejduk has the only goal in the four games for the Sakic-Hejduk-Dave Andreychuk line. But Avalanche coach Bob Hartley said Monday that he remained confident in the Sakic line. "The last two games, Joe got some quality shots, got some quality chances," Hartley said Monday. "I can feel that that line will get rewarded soon." In Games 3 and 4 of the series in Denver, Hartley avoided pairing Sakic's line with a Stars line centered by Mike Modano, hoping that would give Sakic fewer defensive responsibilities. But Sakic still didn't break out. As the series shifted back to Dallas for Game 5, Stars coach Ken Hitchcock was expected to manipulate the matchups to get the Modano and Sakic lines back against each other. That would leave Peter Forsberg's line, with Stephane Yelle or Chris Drury at center and Adam Deadmarsh at right wing, to take on the Stars' Joe Nieuwendyk-centered line. Hartley has frequently used Sakic's line against the opposition's corresponding top line. So his maneuvering to get Sakic away from the Modano line in Denver last weekend was the exception, not the rule. "I don't care whether it's Joe's line or Peter's line playing against Modano," Hartley said. "That's fine with me. We can generate a lot." Sakic said the line "got a lot of scoring chances in the last two games. Going into Game 5, we want to do the same things we've been doing, and it doesn't matter who we're up against. In the last two games, we were more assertive and forechecked better and did the things we had to do in the offensive zone. That's what we want to keep doing." The Modano line was dominant in the Stars' 4-1 victory in Game 4, with Brett Hull scoring twice and Modano getting three assists. The Sakic line was up against the Nieuwendyk line. "They got a couple of chances in the last game and they buried them," Sakic said of the Modano line. "So, yeah, against that line, you have to be smart and be smart in their end."
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