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GAME 1:
Mike Ricci began the scoring for San Jose at 6:13 of the first period, with Teemu Selanne following suit at 10:35. Selanne extended the lead to 3-0 again at 11:28 of the second period, before Colorado found the net with a power-play goal by Chris Drury at 14:33. Greg de Vries tightened the score at 3-2 with his goal 2:03 before the end of the period. The Sharks struck again later in the third, with shots by Patrick Marleau at 12:34 and Scott Thornton at 15:20. Peter Forsberg tried to put the Avalanche back in the game less than a minute later to bring the score to 5-3, but an empty-netter thrown in by Bryan Marchment gave San Jose a 6-3 victory to put them 1-0 ahead of Colorado in their Western Conference semifinal series.
GAME 2:
The Colorado Avalanche buried San Jose as they struck with a vengeance in game two. Rob Blake scored the only first period goal at 8:54 for the team, and the rest of the game belonged to them. Blake doubled Colorado's lead at 1:38 of the second, while Peter Forsberg and captain Joe Sakic added their own at 8:36 and 10:19. Greg de Vries finished off Colorado's second period less than four minutes later to make the score 5-0. Patrick Marleau finally put the Sharks on the board, and at 3:30 of the third period, Stephane Matteau added another to raise their score to 5-2. But that was all that San Jose would accomplish as Milan Hejduk, Eric Messier, and Dan Hinote scored for Colorado in a 1:50 timeframe. The three goals caused San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov to storm to the lockerroom for the remainder of the game. Colorado pulls up 1-1 in their series as the teams head to San Jose for the next two games.
GAME 3:
Rob Blake started off again only 59 seconds into the game to give Colorado the early lead, but at 14:40 Scott Thornton tied it up again to give the game a fresh start for the second period. That period saw Owen Nolan score for the Sharks at 3:20, followed by Adam Graves at 5:36 to move San Jose ahead 3-1. Blake scored yet again at the 8:56 mark of the period, with Alex Tanguay tying it at 16:49 for a score of 3-3. Colorado took the lead back with a goal by Peter Forsberg in the dying seconds of the period. The Sharks struck back in the third, beginning with Teemu Selanne's third goal of the playoffs to tie the game at 3:31. Patrick Marleau pushed San Jose ahead for good at 13:26 and Owen Nolan added an empty-net insurance goal to make the final score 6-4, giving San Jose their lead back in the series with 2-1.
GAME 4:
Rob Blake scored his third opening goal in as many games to start the Avalanche off at 5:26 of the first period. Just over five minutes later Joe Sakic doubled the score at 2-0. Teemu Selanne put a power-play goal by Patrick Roy just 29 seconds into the second period for the Sharks' lone goal. Sakic scored once more for a lead of 3-1 at 2:45 of the third period, and Milan Hejduk rung in an empty-netter at 18:58 to bring the final tally to 4-1, evening up the series at two games apiece to head back to Colorado for game five.
GAME 5:
After a fruitless first half, Marco Sturm got the points started at 12:07 of the second period. Avalanche player Peter Forsberg responded 1:33 later to tie the game, and Mike Keane added his own to give Colorado the leadat 14:57. Niklas Sundstrom evened it up again at 2-2 just 41 seconds later, and Joe Sakic capped the second period with a goal for Colorado at 18:05. Mike Ricci tied it once again 5:59 into the final period, and Teemu Selanne added his fifth of the series three minutes later to bring the Sharks ahead for good. Owen Nolan added his second empty-netter of the series with thre seconds left for a final score of 5-3. San Jose moves ahead for the third time in the series, and Colorado faces elimination as the teams head back to San Jose at 3-2.
GAME 6:
Finally a low scoring game in the series, Colorado and San Jose traded shots for 35:17 before the Sharks got through Patrick Roy on a goal by Marcus Ragnarsson. Steve Reinprecht tied the game again just 24 seconds later, finishing off regulation time scoring at 1-1. 2:47 into the overtime period, Peter Forsberg made the game-winning goal, sending the teams back to Colorado all evened up for the final game of the series.
GAME 7:
In a close battle that saw Patrick Roy record another shutout with 27 saves, the Avalanche squeaked past the Sharks to move on to the Western Conference finals. Colorado's Peter Forsberg made the game-winning goal for the second time in as many games. The goal came at 17:50 of the second period and was his seventh of the playoffs, his sixth of the series against San Jose. His team would now go on to meet their rival Detroit as they defeated San Jose 4-3 in the series.
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