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Precarious position The Avs have been pushed to the edge
DENVER -- The pressure is all on the Avalanche now. It's been weighing on them since late February when general manager Pierre Lacroix acquired 1998 Norris Trophy winner Rob Blake from the L.A. Kings and Colorado suddenly had a six-man unit of All-Stars dressing every night. That's when the Avalanche became the Stanley Cup favorite. The pressure to deliver on that standing began with the very first faceoff of the postseason and it has increased manifold ever since Luc Robitaille's third-period goal led to a 1-0 L.A. victory in Game 5 of this wonderful, nerve-wracking, second-round series. A second 1-0 Kings victory followed two nights later, and now this series Colorado once led three games to one is going to a Game 7. And everyone knows that Game 7 is anyone's game. For days people have been recalling the Avalanche's memorable playoff collapses of recent years. They remember how the Oilers rallied from a three-games-to-one deficit to beat Colorado in 1998. Or how the Avalanche held a 3-2 series lead over Dallas in 1999 and were up two-games-to-one on the Stars in 2000, both times with home-ice advantage on their side. The Avalanche players don't need to be reminded that Colorado squandered both of those series; most of them were there.
In their past 21 games with chance to clinch a series, the Avalanche are a very ordinary 11-10. The Kings, by contrast, are already in gravy time. They're so loose that they've been reflecting on their Game 5 and 6 victories with company lines such as "Well, we had nothing to lose but the series and the game." Los Angeles came into the playoffs as a No. 7 seed. By rallying from two games down to beat the daunting Red Wings in the first round and now pushing the mighty Avalanche to a seventh game, the Kings have already superseded their faithful's highest expectations. No matter what happens in Game 7, the Kings will get a hero's welcome -- probably led by Shaquille O'Neal -- when they come home. Yes, the pressure weighs on everyone in the Avalanche locker room right now, but some feel it most heavily. To wit: A) Coach Bob Hartley. The bet here is that if Colorado loses Game 7, Lacroix will make a coaching change. In three years Hartley has done a solid job for the most part, but Lacroix hasn't rushed to compliment him after the Avalanche's playoff losses the past two seasons. Lacroix knows he and his player-personnel staff have done all they can to put Colorado in position to win a Cup. The Avalanche's alarmingly lackluster play in the past two games -- most notably in Game 5 when they were so disinterested it defied explanation -- comes, in part, down to coaching. B) The power play. The Avalanche is just 3-for-33 in the series and 0 for its last 10. Hartley says that good power play performance "comes in waves and we're not on a high wave right now." The way the Kings have controlled most of the five-on-five play the past two games, the Avs will likely need at least one man-advantage goal to win Game 7. C) Patrick Roy. He rebounded from a lousy first game to play sharply, and he was excellent in Game 6. Still, Roy was beaten five-hole to lose that game in overtime, and if he'd stopped a couple of soft ones in Game 1, Colorado wouldn't be in this position. D) Peter Forsberg/Joe Sakic. One of them must shake off the Kings' close checking -- particularly that of center Bryan Smolinski -- and bust into the clear. The Avalanche is exceptional because of their star power; one of these two needs to turn in a dominating effort. E) Blake. He was booed each time he touched the puck in Los Angeles and hasn't seemed his confident self in this series. His big slapshots have too often sailed wide and his gaffe in Game 2 led to a breakaway and nearly a Kings' goal. This is the guy who solidified the Avalanche's standing as Cup favorite. He needs to be one of those who makes sure the team takes another step toward delivering on its potential. Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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