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 Thursday, February 6, 2003
Avs and Wings get ready for another thriller
By John Davidson
Special to ABC Sports Online
Since the mid-1990s, the Red Wings and Avalanche have provided great game after great game, and it should be no different on Saturday when Detroit heads to Denver for the second game of a home-and-home series (ABC, 3 p.m. ET).
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| Watch ABC's regional coverage of the NHL this Saturday (3 p.m. ET)
Detroit at Colorado
N.Y. Rangers at Philadelphia
Pittsburgh at Boston
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The Avalanche are starting to blend well after struggling for a good portion of the season and having trouble winning at home (8-9-7-2). Peter Forsberg has been nothing short of awesome (2 goals, 11 assists in last 10 games). A lot of his offense is happening down low, behind the goal line.
Plus, Rob Blake is playing very well, Patrick Roy is back on top of his game, Milan Heyduk is hot and Joe Sakic is not far away -- the parts are starting to connect. The square pegs are going into the square holes, the round pegs are going into the round holes. Their penalty killing was horrid earlier and getting better. They are playing very disciplined. It's a team that's very close to where it was.
Meanwhile, the Red Wings are still the champs. Up front, they are as good as they've been without Steve Yzerman. When they get Yzerman back, they are even better.
The problem is they just give up too much compared to what they did in the past. They are still suspect to a degree on the blue line. The great Nicklas Lidstrom is still back there, but Chris Chelios is banged up and with Jim Fischer hurt, they are not as steady and sure back there as they should. They need help on the blue line to have a genuine shot to repeat.
It has put more pressure on the goalies. Curtis Joseph had a heck of a win three weeks ago in Denver, but he has not been to the very top of his game every night.
New York Rangers at Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia has to win low-scoring games. When you are without key talented forwards to score goals (Simon Gagne, John LeClair and Justin Williams are all out), it forces you to rely on defense. The Flyers are that good on defense, but it puts a lot of pressure back there.
The Rangers head into Saturday's game in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, but they need to work on their discipline. They are the most penalized team in the league, and they take more bad penalties than anybody. The lack of on-ice discipline is the biggest bugaboo that they have. General manager/head coach Glen Sather won't sit around and let it pester away. He will make changes if they don't clean up their act.
Since Sather has taken over for Bryan Trottier, the Rangers have tried different alignments on power plays and faceoffs, different lineups on penalty killing. He might try giving the young kids Jamie Lundmark and Rico Fata killing penalties. If you give them ice time, it allows some of the older guys the chance to concentrate more on even-strength and power-play opportunities. Those are the types of changes that are going to be made.
The Rangers also need to get a hot hand in goal. Nineteen-year-old Dan Blackburn is going to start against St. Louis on Thursday. If he plays well, he'll likely start against Philly as well.
Pittsburgh Penguins at Boston Bruins
Mario Lemieux is scheduled to be back.
But it's difficult to know what to think of the Penguins. They enter their final 29 games just four points out of the eighth spot in the East, but they're looking to move Alexei Kovalev. It would save $2 million for the rest of the season -- it's a part of the business world.
Pittsburgh has to be smart at even strength and take advantage of its power play. It's power play is still ranked No. 1 in the league even though Mario has been out for quite a long time. If you give the Penguins five or six chances, you're asking for it. If you give them two or three, then you might get out of it. You have to play disciplined against them.
The Bruins are a funny team too. They rested Jeff Hackett the first game out of the All-Star break, but he's going to be the key for their final 30 regular-season games. If he's healthy, he's really good.
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