DENVER -- When you talk home-ice advantage, you always talk last line change.

The home coach gets the last chance to choose his matchups before the puck is dropped for the faceoff. With all the superstar players involved in the Western Conference finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche, one would think line-jockeying would be a high priority.

But to Avs coach Bob Hartley and Wings coach Scotty Bowman, it's not.

Historically, a team has paired its checking line against the other team's best forwards. In this series, Colorado's checking line of Mike Keane, Stephane Yelle and Eric Messier has been used against Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan. Detroit's Grind Line of Darren McCarty, Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper has been used to bottle up snipers Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic.

But Hartley and Bowman have been more concerned with matching defensemen against the opposition's most dangerous offensive players. Bowman has tried to use Nicklas Lidstrom or Chris Chelios against Forsberg and Sakic, and Hartley has given huge amounts of ice time to defensemen Rob Blake and Adam Foote to combat the talent that is present on each of Detroit's four lines. (Three-time, 50-goal scorer Luc Robitaille is on the third line).

"Now teams match defensemen with big players, because there's only two of them," Bowman said. "If the other team wants a certain guy out on somebody, they're going to get it. They can just change on the fly."

Forwards can often get caught too deep in the zone to make a line change, but as long as a team can control a faceoff or get the puck deep into their offensive zone, swapping defensemen is simple.

"The easiest thing in hockey is to change your defensemen on the fly," Hartley said.

In Game 4, one of Hartley's biggest concerns will be freeing up Forsberg, who was stifled by the Wings in Game 3 and did not register a single shot on goal. But, if Hartley sees Chelios or Lidstrom hopping over the boards, he says there's no reason to yank Forsberg.

"One thing is sure," Hartley said. "Forsberg won't score from the bench."

But changing lines too often can backfire on a team.

"If you change too much, you lose your forecheck," Bowman said. "Colorado, they're not a big shooting team, but they move the puck, so you'd better get them stopped before the red line."

Notes