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GAME 1:
Colorado's high scorer Peter Forsberg returns in the first game of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series against Los Angeles for the first time since Colorado beat the Kings in the second round of last year's playoffs. Forsberg had to have emergency surgery on his spleen and on his ankle, forcing him to sit out the rest of the Avalanche's Stanley Cup-winning playoffs as well as every game of the 2001-02 regular season. He looked to be in good form as Colorado again went head to head with the Kings. The team scored two goals early in the game, by Alex Tanguay and Steven Reinprecht. Then L.A.'s Bryan Smolinski put his team on the board at 10:52 of the second period, for a score of 2-1. Under four minutes later, Los Angeles sniper Ziggy Palffy tied the game up, beating veteran goalie Patrick Roy.
With the score at two goals apiece, long-time Avalanche captain Joe Sakic started off the third period by shooting a goal past Felix Potvin 1:06 into the period. But just over two minutes later, Palffy again scored to even up the game, giving everyone a fresh start. With Patrick Roy making 26 saves for Colorado, the game-winning goal came from an unexpected place. Greg de Vries scored at 14:26 of the third for the Avalanche, his first playoff goal in 66 games, making the final score 4-3.
GAME 2:
Peter Forsberg showed that he was perfectly healthy and itching to score in Colorado's second game against Los Angeles, recording one goal and two assists. There was much scoring during the first period, with Joe Sakic starting for Colorado at 7:01. Adam Deadmarsh immediately responded with a goal of his own 22 seconds later, tying the game up. Then the Kings scored again at 13:13 when Mikko Eloranta put his team ahead of Colorado. But the lead would be short-lived, as Sakic scored again with a power-play goal before the period ended.
Jason Allison put Los Angeles up 3-2 at 8:43 of the second, but it would be Peter Forsberg's tying goal just over two minutes later that marked the end of the Kings' lead for the rest of the game. Steve Reinprecht added another goal at 16:45, and then Chris Drury topped the Avalanche off with one more half-way through the third period to make the final score 5-3 over Los Angeles. Despite Potvin's 33 saves, Los Angeles could not keep from falling 2-0 in the series.
GAME 3:
Coming back to L.A. without a win, the Kings needed to get their act together quickly. They had been in the same position by this point last year, and had rebounded then, so the team was confident that they could claim a win on home ice. It seemed to be going their way from the very start of the game, with Ziggy Palffy scoring only 19 seconds into the match. Colorado winger Brad Larsen made it 1-1 soon after. Then in the first minute of the next period, Ziggy Palffy made a pass to Jason Allison, allowing him to put the puck past Patrick Roy. Palffy recieved his third point of the game and fourth goal of the series eight minutes later to put the Kings up 3-1.
There was no scoring in the third period, but by the end of the game things were getting pretty rough. The two teams were getting very physical, and in the last 15 seconds the referees handed out 5 roughing penalties and 2 fighting penalties. They made no difference, however, as the Kings took the game to improve their playoff series to within one game of Colorado. Felix Potvin made 30 saves, while Roy stopped only 15 of the 18 shots on net.
GAME 4:
Still playing in Los Angeles, game four was rather uneventful, with Patrick Roy making 32 saves for his 20th career playoff shutout. Not only were there no goals on Roy, but there was was only one goal in the whole game. It came from Colorado center Steve Reinprecht at 5:57 of the second period, his third goal of the playoffs. The win would put the Avalanche up 3-1 in the series, a familiar situation for the Kings as they were 3-1 against the Avs by this point in their Western Conference semifinal series in 2001.
GAME 5:
Heading back to Colorado and facing elimination, the Kings provided another close game against the Avalanche. This game went to overtime as no goals were scored in regulation time, making the game dependent on a single goal. This would be a reverse performance of game four though, with Los Angeles getting their second win of the series on Craig Johnson's goal 2:19 into the extra period. Potvin's shutout allowed L.A. to return home still in the playoffs to attempt avoiding elimination once more, just as they had last year.
GAME 6:
After a pair of single goal games, the Kings return to Los Angeles to try and win once again. They got off to a great start, with Jason Allison getting by Patrick Roy 1:21 into the first period and Brad Chartrand doing it again less than six minutes later. Bryan Smolinski bumped the score up to 3-0 at 6:19 of the second period, and the Kings were on their way to a win and another chance to live. With Colorado's lone goal by Riku Hahl coming half-way through, the goalies stopped all shots for the last half of the game, and both teams were evened up in the series, making game seven a do-or-die match.
GAME 7:
Los Angeles was hoping that history would not repeat itself this time. After running through the playoff schedule the same way they had last year against Colorado, the Kings kept from being eliminated long enough to force the Avalanche to a seventh and final game. Against all hopes though, history came through and Colorado once again beat L.A. in seven games. Looking at the score, one would never guess just how close the defending Stanley Cup champions came to being knocked off in the first round. Patrick Roy was in character once again by posting another playoff shutout, the 21st in his career. But unlike the other shutouts of this series, there was much more than one goal scored by the winning team.
Chris Drury and Alex Tanguay got a pair 54 seconds apart in the second period, followed by Steve Reinprecht's fourth of the playoffs at 17:32, making him the team's top scorer in the series. With nothing left to lose, L.A. pulled their goalie for the last minutes of the game, but it was a fruitless effort. Adam Foote shot the puck into the empty net, emphasizing that the game, and the series, was over with a final score of 4-0. The next round would see Colorado against San Jose.
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