Maybe we should call it "Mission 16W, The Sequel." You remember the original, starring Ray Bourque, who used "16W" (the number of wins needed to become champs) as the slogan to win his first Stanley Cup before he retired. It was a big hit last spring, especially in Denver.

	Forsberg assisted on two goals in his first game in almost a year.

On Thursday night, the Colorado Avalanche kicked off their Stanley Cup defense with a rock'em, sock'em 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings in an extremely physical Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

This time the featured star was Avs center/left wing Peter Forsberg, who missed the entire regular season due to various foot and ankle injuries and hadn't played an NHL game since Game 7 of last spring's conference semifinal (on May 4, also against the Kings).

On that evening, after the Avs advanced past the Kings in the decisive game, Forsberg needed emergency surgery to remove his spleen. The serious nature of the injury sidelined him for the remainder of their Cup-winning playoff run.

On Thursday, running more on adrenaline than game conditioning, Forsberg contributed a pair of important assists during his 15 minutes and 45 seconds of ice time. Avs coach Bob Hartley used Forsberg at left wing on the second line with center Chris Drury and right winger Steve Reinprecht, as well as on the first power-play unit.

But, Forsberg's productive return wasn't the only positive sign for the defending champs. In fact, the Avs displayed many of the same attributes that helped them win the prize last spring.

Like last year, the Avs' stars played like stars in the big moments. Captain Joe Sakic turned in a strong game, centering the top line with left winger Alex Tanguay and rookie right winger Radim Vrbata. Hartley leaned on Sakic throughout the evening, giving him 24:53 of ice time -- the most among Avs forwards.

Sakic showed off his all-world wrist shot early in the third period when he ripped one through the legs of Kings defenseman Aaron Miller and past screened goalie Felix Potvin to give the Avs a brief 3-2 lead.

Aside from Forsberg, Sakic also received offensive support from the versatile Drury, who proved to be his usual big-game self by chipping in two assists, and talented forwards, Alex Tanguay and Reinprecht, who each contributed a timely goal.

Another reminder of last year's playoff run were monster-sized defensemen Rob Blake and Adam Foote, who were off on their usual search-and-destroy missions along the wall and in front of their net. The deadly duo each played nearly 30 head-banging minutes. During the course of the evening, Blake delivered several bone-jarring hits, including a crushing corner shot on little Kings forward Cliff Ronning.

In goal, Patrick Roy didn't need to be quite as good as he was last year, but was good enough. He surrendered a pair of five-hole softies in the second period, but managed to come up with big saves down the stretch to help preserve the win.

What was most reminiscent of the Avs of last year's Mission 16W was the play of their foot soldiers. Hartley received a couple of hard-core shifts from his fourth line of right winger Dan Hinote and rookies Riku Hahl and Brad Larsen. The trio did a nice job pinning the Kings deep in their end on a couple of key third-period shifts.

Later, hard working left winger Eric Messier helped create the game-winning goal by outhustling the Kings at both ends of the rink and driving to the net with puck. Messier's wrap-around attempt ricocheted of the skate of fellow foot solider Mike Keane right to defenseman Greg deVries, who drilled the puck past Potvin.

Keane and Messier, who played on the third line with center Stephane Yelle, each came up with huge blocked shots in the final 15 seconds. First, Keane (who was a member of the franchise's first Cup-winning team in 1996) threw himself in front of slapper by Kings defenseman Jaroslav Modry. Then, seconds later, Messier dove in front of a one-time blast by defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

Foote, who may be their ultimate foot soldier, completed the late-game, shot-blocking spree by diving in front of a last-second effort off the dangerous stick of sniper Zigmund Palffy.

Although their performance was a bit uneven, the Avs showed they remember exactly what it takes to win playoff games. Can they pull off the "Mission 16W" sequel? Well, all the players seem to remember their roles. On Thursday, with Forsberg back on board, it was one tough win down and 15 even tougher ones to go.

E.J. Hradek writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.