On the last day of the regular season, the Avalanche battled the Dallas Stars to a 2-2 tie, obtaining the extra point needed to secure home-ice advantage for the playoffs. That gives coach Bob Hartley the last line change in Games 1 and 2 against the Sharks, as well as the opportunity to set the tempo for the series.

The Sharks and Avs both have six talented power forwards on their first and second lines, and both Hartley and San Jose coach Darryl Sutter will have their hands full containing them.

Sutter will want his checking line of Mike Ricci, Scott Thornton, and Niklas Sundstrom against Colorado's most potent line. Is that the Avs' first line, of Milan Hejduk, Alex Tanguay and Joe Sakic (nine points vs. Kings), or is it the second line of Chris Drury, Peter Forsberg and Steven Reinprecht (17 points)?

Hartley will deploy his checking line of Mike Keane, Eric Messier and Stephane Yelle to deal with the Sharks' top line, which like the Avs', changes every night. Is it Adam Graves, Vincent Damphousse and Owen Nolan (eight points vs. Coyotes), or Marco Sturm, Patrick Marleau and Teemu Selanne (10 points)?

For any other team, a checking line would sacrifice goals to control the scoring of the other teams top lines. But with Ricci, Thornton, and Sundstrom, Sutter has a beautiful thing. In the regular season, the trio was his most potent line, combining for 51 goals and 129 points while earning a reputation as one of the toughest checking lines in hockey.

Keane, Messier and Yelle do the job defensively, but they combined for only 12 goals and 38 points all season.

Matchups will be key. If Hartley expends too much effort containing big-shots Nolan and Selanne, the Sharks' potent third line will show their bite. And if Sutter can control Sakic and Forsberg, there's always last year's hero -- Danny Hinote -- waiting in the wings for a second chance, and Patrick Roy between the pipes, waiting to bail them out.

The Sharks and the Avs enter the semifinals from opposite directions. The Sharks needed only five games to dispatch the Coyotes, and have been resting for over a week. Teemu Selanne even had time for a few rounds of golf. The Avs will play Game 1 of the series less than 48 hours after finishing off the Kings in seven games.

The Sharks will try to finish off the tired Avs, and the Avs will try to tire out the fresh Sharks.

Lindsay Berra writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail her at lindsay.berra@espnmag.com.