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SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Sudden-death proved anything but for the Colorado Avalanche. Peter Forsberg scored 2:47 into overtime as the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche forced a decisive seventh game in their Western Conference semifinal series with a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Facing elimination, Colorado quickly erased a 1-0 deficit in the second period and wasted little time in overtime before silencing the boisterous crowd at the Compaq Center. Milan Hejduk carried into the Sharks' zone and curled just inside the blue line before banking a pass off the right boards. Joe Sakic picked up the puck, avoided a hit by defenseman Scott Hannan and found Forsberg breaking down the slot. Forsberg put a deflection past goaltender Evgeni Nabokov for his sixth playoff goal. "Milan came in on the right side and Joe made a great move. He threw it over to me," said Forsberg, who sat out the entire season. "I don't know how he saw me. He must have had a feeling that I was coming, and I just had an open net. Joe made a great play." The three former All-Stars were thrown together by coach Bob Hartley after Colorado struggled offensively. "I don't think that we generated a whole lot of chances in the first couple of periods," Forsberg said. "He was trying to mix it up and get some offense going to create some chances. And that is what happened." The Sharks quietly filed off the ice and got ready to return to Colorado, where Game Seven will be played on Wednesday night. "This is the playoffs and this is what it is all about," San Jose right wing Teemu Selanne said. "If you don't enjoy this, I don't know what you can do. This is what hockey is all about. It is just getting more interesting now. ... We just have to regroup and do it on Wednesday." Steven Reinprecht scored the other goal for the Avalanche, who are headed to a seventh game for the third straight playoff series dating to last year's Stanley Cup Finals. "It's totally unpredictable now," Hartley said. "You could not possibly predict the outcome of Game Seven based on the way these two teams have played so far. We have had the close defensive games and the wide-open scoring games. So we will just have to wait and see." The "wait and see" approach was evident for the second straight game as the teams played 35 minutes of scoreless hockey. Colorado had two solid chances in the second period, but defenseman Darius Kasparaitis curled a shot wide of the right goalpost with 18:45 to go and Sakic whipped a shot off the crossbar with just under seven minutes left. The Sharks finally broke through with 4:43 remaining on defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson's first career playoff goal. Niklas Sundstrom made a perfect cross-ice pass from the top of the left faceoff circle and Ragnarsson one-timed it past sliding goalie Patrick Roy. "The forwards were doing a good job," San Jose defenseman Brad Stuart said. "Me and Rags were trying to keep the puck in, move around a little bit and create some confusion. And Rags got open for the shot." The Sharks never had a chance to protect the lead, however, as the Avalanche tied it 24 seconds later on a stellar individual effort by Reinprecht. He skated down the right side and around the net, emerging in the left circle. After drifting into the slot, Reinprecht slid a backhander between Nabokov's pads for his fifth goal. "Rhino scored a big, big goal for us to get us to 1-1," said Roy, who made 21 saves. Both teams had opportunities to grab the lead in the third period. San Jose's Vincent Damphousse shot wide of the net on a 2-on-1 with Owen Nolan with 13:13 left. Less than three minutes later, Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake shrugged off a check from Mike Ricci and put a wrister between Nabokov's pads. But defenseman Scott Hannan covered for his goalie and swept away the puck, which may have gone wide of the left goalpost. Moments later, the Compaq Center was shaken by a magnitude 5.2 earthquake centered in Gilroy, California. "I didn't know," Roy said. "Too focused, I guess." Nabokov used his glove to snare rookie Riku Hahl's blast from the top of the left circle with 1:15 to go in regulation and Roy smothered a wrister from the left circle by Selanne seconds later. Nabokov stopped 27 shots for the Sharks, who have won three of four Game Sevens in their brief playoff history. "We know Game Seven is going to be a great game and we know that we can win there," San Jose left wing Adam Graves said. "Our mind-set is to go in and play the same style that we played all series. We just have to get ready, get as much rest as you can, go out, have fun and play hard." |
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