Colorado Avalanche Hockey Team

Game 1: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., at Dallas. * Season series: Colorado 2-1-1. * Top scorers: Dallas--Mike Modano 34 goals, 47 assists--81 points. Colorado--Peter Forsberg 30-67--97. * Team goals-against average: Dallas 2.02 (first). Colorado 2.47 (11th). * Power play: Dallas 18.8% (sixth). Colorado 18.9% (fifth). * Penalty killing: Dallas 86.5% (sixth). Colorado 83.7% (17th). * Playoff power play: Dallas 5-52 (9.6%). Colorado 12-72 (16.7%). * Playoff penalty killing: Dallas 41-45 (91.

Rob Blake will walk into another arena tonight where he'll probably get booed. Colorado Avalanche fans in the Pepsi Center figure to give Blake the cold shoulder when the Kings take the ice. Blake played four-plus seasons in Denver, helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup. "It's going to be a little different," Blake said about returning to the scene of his prime. "I'll have mixed feelings about being there. There were so many good times.

The Stanley Cup was in the house Thursday night, polished and ready for collection by the New Jersey Devils. But the Devils were no-shows to their own party. Capitalizing on numerous boneheaded plays by the Devils, the Colorado Avalanche staved off elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, romping to a 4-0 victory before 19,040 disgruntled fans at Continental Airlines Arena. There was no late-night tailgate party in the Meadowlands parking lots.

Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks pleaded not guilty Thursday to an assault charge stemming from a hit on Steve Moore during a game that left the Colorado Avalanche forward with a broken neck. Bertuzzi appeared in a Vancouver, Canada, court for 10 minutes and did not speak as he left with his wife in a limousine. His four words in court -- "Not guilty, your honor" -- were his first public utterances since March, when he tearfully apologized for his actions.

To hear the Colorado Avalanche tell it, the only way to beat the New Jersey Devils and their suffocating defensive pressure is to take a lead and hold it in Game 6 tonight at Continental Airlines Arena. It could be the only way to force Game 7 Saturday in Denver. "If we can make some adjustments and get more pressure in their zone, we'll spend less time in our zone," Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. "The plan for us will be to score the first goal. I don't see any lineup changes.

Roy outplays Brodeur, Avalanche wins. Brodeur upstages Roy, Devils win. Newspaper headlines from coast to coast have changed game by game in the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, a series highlighted by a fixation on the goaltenders for each team. The performances of Colorado's Patrick Roy and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur have been discussed and dissected at the end of each of the first six games. And why not? No other position in hockey invites and even encourages such scrutiny.

It was only 15 days ago that the Kings, fighting fears they might be swept out of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings for a second consecutive season, came home to Staples Center seeking support and salvation. They insisted they could play better than they had shown in their 5-3 and 4-0 losses, but knew it was time to give life to those words.

The Kings didn't lose Saturday because the NHL hasn't availed itself of technology that could have proved whether an apparent second-period goal by Glen Murray was a goal. They didn't lose, 2-0, at the Pepsi Center because the Colorado Avalanche played like the NHL's top regular-season team. The Avalanche played well in spurts, but it gave the Kings enough openings to drive a video replay machine through. Nor did the Kings lose because Patrick Roy played like the Roy of legend.

So that's the NHL's best team, eh? What do you say we just hand 'em the Stanley Cup right now? Why bother playing Games 3 and 4 at Staples Center? Yeah, whatever. The Colorado Avalanche, the league's leader in the regular season with 118 points, scored one goal Saturday in Game 2 that perhaps shouldn't have counted and a second only after two Kings fell. Otherwise, they're still playing late into the afternoon at the Pepsi Center, deadlocked in a scoreless draw.

Patrick Roy is the greatest playoff goalie in NHL history. He has more victories, 125, in more games, 201, than anyone else who has ever patrolled a crease in postseason play. He has led three teams to Stanley Cup championships--the 1985-86 Montreal Canadiens, the 1992-93 Canadiens and the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche. But he looked like a stiff Thursday in Game 1 of the Avalanche's second-round playoff series against the Kings.

Speaking for the first time since he was blindsided by a punch to the head from Vancouver Canuck winger Todd Bertuzzi, Colorado Avalanche rookie Steve Moore said Monday he was "just fortunate to be alive." Moore sustained a broken neck and a concussion after being punched by Bertuzzi on March 8, the most recent incident to scar hockey's reputation. Wearing a cervical collar over the top of his white dress shirt, Moore spoke optimistically about returning to hockey.

If a chance to move atop the Northwest Division wasn't motivation enough for the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, Paul Kariya offered his new teammates a financial incentive to defeat his former Mighty Duck teammates while he watched from the sidelines with his sprained right wrist encased in a white plastic splint. "There were thousands on the board," Teemu Selanne said of the bulletin board in the locker room. "Paul put some big money in and I put in even more."

Mighty Duck captain Paul Kariya, who endured the many bad times and reveled in a few good times in Anaheim, will chase the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche this season. Kariya and Teemu Selanne will be reunited after both signed one-year deals with the Avalanche on Thursday; Kariya for about $1.2 million, Selanne for $5.8 million.

Patrick Roy was a 20-year-old known mostly for talking to his goal posts until he led the Montreal Canadiens to the 1986 Stanley Cup championship and began to forge a reputation as a clutch goaltender. It's fitting, then, he chose to announce his retirement today, between Games 1 and 2 of the Cup finals between the Mighty Ducks and the New Jersey Devils and at the time of year he long claimed as his own.

When Wayne Gretzky's No. 99 finally took its rightful place high up in Staples Center last week, it represented more than an honor for the greatest player to ever wear a Kings sweater. It proved that grand achievements and special memories mean more than hurt feelings. It reminded us that the same should apply to Rob Blake. Blake's accomplishments merit a place alongside the retired numbers of Gretzky, Dave Taylor, Marcel Dionne and Rogie Vachon.

The Detroit Red Wings chased Patrick Roy and sent the Colorado Avalanche packing. Detroit scored on its first two shots and knocked out the Colorado goalie early in the second period as the Red Wings eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche with a 7-0 victory Friday night in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. "We thought it would be a 1-0 game, or go into overtime, or be a 2-0 game," Red Wing captain Steve Yzerman said.

Of all the spectacular plays he could have shown to inspire his players before Friday's practice, King Coach Andy Murray chose one of the least likely moments from a momentous game. He replayed none of the goals from the Kings' 4-3 overtime victory over Colorado on Thursday at the Pepsi Center in the opener of their second-round NHL playoff series.

Daryl Evans, the Kings' radio analyst, has had a remarkable streak of playoff predictions. Among his clairvoyant calls were the Kings' first-round victory over Detroit, the final score of the series clincher, and predicting the Kings' victory in the opener of their second-round series against Colorado. But Evans hopes he's wrong about his prediction for today's game.

This King season ended where the last one did. In the Pepsi Center. In disappointment. In a four-goal defeat. The Colorado Avalanche sent the Kings unhappily into the off-season for the second consecutive year, closing out their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series Monday night with a 4-0 Game 7 victory in front of 18,007.

Last year, in the backs of their minds, it might have been good enough for the Kings to push the Colorado Avalanche to the brink of elimination. Last year, after overcoming a 2-0 deficit to upset the Detroit Red Wings in the first round, it might have been good enough for the Kings to erase a 3-1 deficit against the Avalanche and necessitate a Game 7, only to lose it. Last year, it might have been good enough to come so close.