CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Patrick Roy proved on opening night he still is a fierce competitor by nearly shoving a glass partition onto Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau.
Friday, he showed he still has that intensity when he held a fiery, impassioned session with the media after his Colorado Avalanche dropped two consecutive games in its playoff series against the Wild.
Roy covered everything from hockey history to the manhood of his team, but the central theme was evident — the first-year coach believes in his players despite their being thoroughly outplayed in Games 3 and 4.
"I'm proud of our team," Roy said. "I'm extremely proud of them, and I'm not going to throw them under the bus because I'm their partner. I trust our team."
Getting the team's momentum back is proving difficult. After winning the first two games at home, Colorado looked lost at Xcel Energy Center — except for goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who single-handedly kept his team in both games.
Game 5 is pivotal for both teams with the series tied 2-2.
At minimum, Colorado must put pucks on net. The Avalanche was outshot 78-34 in St. Paul, managing only 12 shots in Thursday's Game 4. The Wild has disrupted Colorado's offensive flow and rendered its power play useless. The Avalanche is 1-for-15 on the power play in the series, and the one goal came on an empty-netter in the closing seconds of Game 2.
"As a power play we have to be in charge of generating momentum if we're not going to score," defenseman Erik Johnson said. "That's clearly an issue that's been magnified the last two games. It didn't matter when we won the first two games at home, but those things stand out more when you lose."
