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Wait no more Sentiment is on Colorado's side, but Wings will flyPosted: Friday May 17, 2002 3:23 PM
This is what we wait for every spring, isn't it? The Avalanche and the Red Wings: the NHL's best playoff rivalry and its two best teams. We wait for the gut-churning one-goal games and the third-period saves, the breakaways and the tic-tac-toe goals. We wait for rumbles in the corners and the open-ice checking. We wait for the fans to go mad and for blood on the ice. "I don't think there's a sports fan in North America who doesn't know about Detroit-Colorado and what it means," says the Wings' Mathieu Dandenault. Dandenault's right. Ever since the mid-'90s, the days of Lemieux vs. Draper, this has been the one series that the nation of hockey fans has tuned into. There are always twists to this rivalry and this year there is Peter Forsberg, whose improbable, spectacular comeback has somehow been obscured by all the other goings on in these pell-mell playoffs. When you have a man recovering from cancer in Montreal, well, that comeback rightfully takes the headlines. Maybe it's because of the magical Saku Koivu subplot in Montreal, or maybe it's because Forsberg's goals keep coming long after everyone on the East Coast has drifted off to sleep, but somehow his story has been overlooked. How do you miss 82 games and then come back to skate this way in the playoffs? In some ways this is as remarkable as Mario's return; Lemieux worked his way back in during the regular season while Forsberg is stepping right back into the nastiness of April and May and no one has gone easy on him yet. We saw San Jose swarm the guy (best that they could, anyway) often thwacking at him with the desperation he engenders. In the end, if Forsberg doesn't shake that off and roof that puck over Evgeni Nabokov's right shoulder in Game 7, the Western Conference finals might be on its way to San Jose right now. Forsberg has another clutch goal in him, and I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before Chris Drury pots a game-winner in this series. Yet this should be the Red Wings' series. Six games, maybe. They have depth on defense that they haven't had in years, they're rested and healthy and hungry. They run deep from Hull to Holmstrom on the forward lines and if there's one place the Red Wings can separate themselves, it's on the third and fourth lines. Who knows how Master Bowman will align them, but somehow, players like Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper will be heard from, even from within this all-star cast. Expect the Wings to set the tone in these games, early. Expect a board-rattling hit, or three, or five before the first period in Game 1 ends. Expect the Avalanche to answer. There's an even bigger difference between this year's version of the rivalry and series past, and the one that the Avalanche have been dominating in recent years. Detroit finally has a goalie who can match Patrick Roy. Oh, Roy's still the best clutch goalie alive -- or dead, for that matter -- and when Forsberg scored in that 1-0 Game 7 win against the Sharks you knew Roy would make it stand up. But Dominik Hasek, who tucked two shutouts against the Blues in his playoff pouch, is going to win a game or two for the Wings. And he's not going to lose one by venturing out to play a puck along the sideboards. The two best goalies in the game may be facing off here, which is something you did not hear in Detroit's Chris Osgood or Mike Vernon eras. This is it, the series we wait for each spring. Check your TV schedules and block out the time. By my count you'll be watching 13 sure-fire Hall of Famers in this series. Any wonder why the winner will be heavily favored to take the Cup? Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL and is a
regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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