Veteran Avalanche not rattled by OT loss

The Wild won Game 2 in overtime, but Colorado's veterans took a business-like approach to the series.

By JUDD ZULGAD, Star Tribune

Last update: April 12, 2008 - 12:17 AM

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In the aftermath of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Wild on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center, a few members of the Colorado Avalanche simply agreed when asked if they had expected a tight series.

But veteran defenseman Adam Foote wasn't about to simply go along with the question. "I don't think I went into the series expecting anything," he said. "It's hockey and anything can happen at this level. It was a great hockey game and went back and forth."

The only difference was Friday night things did not go Colorado's way. The Avalanche had won the opening game 3-2 in overtime and had an excellent opportunity to take a 2-0 lead back to Pepsi Center for Game 3 on Monday night.

Peter Forsberg gave his team a 1-0 lead in the first, and that held up until early in the third period. When the Avalanche came back to tie the score late in regulation on a Milan Hejduk goal, it appeared the Avs might be too much for the Wild.

That didn't turn out to be the case as the Wild defenseman Keith Carney won it early in the extra session.

"We have to forget about this and regroup," Avs goalie Jose Theodore said. "We're playing well I think. Both teams are staying patient. This is playoff hockey."

While the Colorado locker room was a quiet place late Friday as players prepared to head back to Denver, the team made up of veterans such as Joe Sakic, Andrew Brunette, Forsberg, Foote and Hejduk took a business-like approach to the situation.

Not surprisingly, two of those players talked about having expected a tight series.

"We knew it was going to be," Hejduk said. "It's always with these guys. You look at the last two or three years, there were a lot of overtimes with these guys and shootouts in the regular season, so you kind of expected something like this. It's no surprise."

Said Sakic, the Colorado captain: "It was just a tight game. Both teams had chances. They were coming in the third period, they were desperate. We had a great goal to tie it and get it to overtime. Unfortunately it didn't last very long. This is the way we expected the series. It's 1-1 now and we're going home. But they've got a great hockey team and it's going to be a tight series."

The loss wasn't the only bit of bad news for the Avalanche.

David Jones, who plays right wing on a line with center Tyler Arnason and Ryan Smyth, left the game with 9 minutes, 34 seconds left in the second period with what was announced as a leg injury. Brunette replaced him in several instances on what is Colorado's third line and also continued to play with Sakic and left winger Wojtek Wolski.

Asked if Colorado might call up a player from the minors to take Jones' place, coach Joel Quenneville said, "We're comfortable with what we have here."

The Avalanche now get to return home for the next two games. A big advantage, right?

"In our league, home ice is not much of an advantage," Sakic said. "Obviously it's going to be great to get home and play in front of our fans, but it's the same dimensions and [the Wild] are not going to really care going on the road."

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