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GAME 1:
Defending champions Colorado Avalanche meet the determined Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference finals. Colorado captain Joe Sakic started the game with a power-play goal 2:48 into the first period. Detroit followed with a power-play goal of their own when Tomas Holmstrom shot one past Patrick Roy at 18:48. Milan Hejduk put Colorado back in the lead at 13:36 of the second period, but the goal was negated just over three minutes later by a Brett Hull slapshot. The game remained tied until 1:18 of the third period, when Darren McCarty came up with a surprise goal for the Red Wings.
Detroit's rough "grinder" was not finshed either. He scored another at 12:44 of the period, then topped it off for his first playoff hat-trick and first three goals of the playoffs 3:11 later to make the score 5-2. Alex Tanguay scored for Colorado on a nice play with two minutes remaining, but by then the damage was done. McCarty came away as the unlikely hero to give Detroit the early series lead.
GAME 2:
Alex Tanguay started the game off in the first period with a 1-0 lead for the Avalanche. But Patrick Roy, who made 30 shaky saves in the game, gave up the lead to Detroit's Boyd Devereaux later the same period for an evenscore once more. After Peter Forsberg regained the lead, Roy gave up another bad goal as Kirk Maltby waltzed in behind him for a shorthanded goal to tie it at 2-2 in the second period. Greg de Vries took the lead back for the third time in as many periods, but a surprise goal by Nicklas Lidstrom at 13:25 of the third sent the teams into overtime. It was Chris Drury who saved Patrick Roy with the game-winner in OT, tying the series with Detroit at one game each and gaining home ice advantage for Colorado.
GAME 3:
Rob Blake scored first for the fourth time in the palyoffs for Colorado at 15:54 of the first period when he deflected a shot past Dominik Hasek. The score was tied early in the third though, when Luc Robitaille was credited with a goal that was knocked in by Greg de Vries. De Vries scored on his own net while trying to clear the rebound that Robitaille had caused to bounce off of Patrick Roy, who made 40 saves in the game. The game was destined for overtime and at 12:44 of the extra period, Fredrik Olausson banged the winner past Roy, with assits from Steve Yzerman and Dominik Hasek. The goal put Detroit up 2-1 in both the game and the series.
GAME 4:
At home in Colorado again, Steve Reinprecht scored at 7:50 of the first with a backhanded shot over a sprawling Dominik Hasek to give the Avs their fourth straight early lead of the series. But like each of those other leads, Detroit came back to tie as Sergei Fedorov got by Patrick Roy on a shorthanded breakaway at 6:20 of the second period. Avalanche captain Joe Sakic put away his ninth goal of the playoffs 45 seconds into the third period to lead all scores with the most goals in the postseason. Chris Drury followed up to put the score at 3-1 for Colorado. The Avalanche would take the win, but not before Brett Hull closed within one goal with 3 seconds to play in the game.
GAME 5:
With the series all evened up, the Avalanche and the Red Wings returned to Detroit for what would become the third overtime game of the series. Steve Reinprecht scored the first goal for Colorado yet again at 17:11 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. But 54 seconds into the third period, Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, still battling on a two-month injured leg, scored on Patrick Roy to tie the game. Yzerman now has 67 goals in 16 playoff games, to tie Detroit legend Gordie Howe who had 67 goals in 19 games. Yzerman's goal would send the teams off to the familiar overtime period, where Colorado hero Peter Forberg scored another game-winner at 6:24 of the extra time with a wrist shot that deflected off of Dominik Hasek. The Avalanche now takes the lead for the first time in the series and has the chance to eliminate Detroit at home in Colorado.
GAME 6:
Dominik Hasek joined Ottawa's Patrick Lalime, along with 16 other goaltenders, to become the 18th goalie to record four shutouts in one playoff season as he blanked Colorado 2-0 with 24 saves. Brendan Shanahan tapped in the game-winner after Colorado goalie Patrick Roy lost the puck. Roy had just made a terrific save off of Steve Yzerman, and was doing a bit of grandstanding when the puck fell from his glove and slid behind him towards the net. Shanahan saw it and tapped it home for a 1-0 Detroit lead. Darren McCarty received his fourth of the series at 13:27 of the second period when he blasted the puck past Roy. The teams now go back to Detroit even in the series to decide who will move on to the Stanley Cup finals.
GAME 7:
"The Dominator" has done it again. Dominik Hasek became the first goalie in NHL history to record five shutouts in one postseason, for a career total of eleven. He made 19 saves, as Patrick Roy was pulled from net in the second period to be replaced for the first time in the playoffs by David Aebischer. Colorado gave up seven goals in the game, including two to Tomas Holmstrom and one to Luc Robitaille, for the most one-sided game seven in NHL history. The Red Wings now move on to their much anticipated Stanley Cup finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.
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