DENVER -- After talking up his team's depth, Detroit coach Scotty Bowman finally got production from all four lines in Game 3. That could be trouble for the Colorado Avalanche for the rest of the NHL's Western Conference finals.

"We looked fresher. I don't know for what reason," Bowman said. "I think because we played our players a little differently. Maybe we weren't leaning on certain guys. It seemed our lines were better. We were kind of spread out and I don't know the reason for it."

After relying on its lesser-known players in the first two games against the defending Stanley Cup champions, Detroit's stars finally showed up in Game 3 -- a 2-1 overtime victory that gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series entering Game 4 on Saturday in Denver.

Sergei Fedorov set up a goal by Luc Robitaille that tied it at 1 in the third period, then Steve Yzerman set up Fredrik Olausson's winner in overtime with a pass in the neutral zone.

Fedorov, Robitaille, Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan combined for 17 of Detroit's 42 shots after struggling to find scoring chances in the first two games. The foursome accounted for 26 goals and 13 assists in the first two rounds against Vancouver and St. Louis, but had not scored against Colorado.

"It was nice to see Luc get the goal and it was nice for me to get a good shot on Patrick," said Fedorov, who has two goals and 11 assists in the playoffs. "It felt like we were urgent. We were really focused on the things we had to do."

The Avalanche were hit with the same inconsistency that has plagued them throughout the playoffs.

Colorado turned to a more defensive style during the regular season with Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk out with injuries. The forwards' return for the playoffs has given the Avalanche more scoring punch, but it's also caused a clash of styles throughout the playoffs.

Colorado opened its first-round series with Los Angeles playing wide-open hockey, then switched to a defensive style. A similar trend occurred in the semifinals against San Jose.

In Game 1 against Detroit, a 5-3 loss, the Avalanche were content to let the Red Wings skate freely. Colorado tightened up for Game 2, a 4-3 win in overtime, then opened up again in the next game. Patrick Roy stopped 40 shots in Game 3, but still ended up with the loss.

"I think it's pretty clear that we had no business being in it," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "Patrick gave us every chance possible in the book to go home with a victory that we didn't deserve. The Red Wings outplayed us and outworked us, plain and simple."

Colorado has had seven one-goal leads in the series, but the only one to stand up was Chris Drury's winner in overtime of Game 2.

Colorado turned defensive after Rob Blake scored in the first period of Game 3, and the Red Wings responded with a 33-14 advantage in shots over the last two periods and overtime.

"They definitely took the play to us," Colorado defenseman Greg de Vries said. "We got burned trying to hold a 1-0 lead against a team like that."