Saturday, Apr. 7 3:00pm ET
Detroit breaks out early, holds on vs. Avs
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BOX SCORE
DETROIT (AP) – Someday, the Detroit Red Wings may be proud of
setting a franchise record with a 19-game undefeated streak at
home.
They have not lost at home since Dec. 27. They broke the record
they shared with the 1931-32 and 1954-55 teams.
|  | | Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom puts the pressure on Colorado backup David Aebischer, who made 26 saves Saturday. |
But they just didn't really care about the mark after closing
the season with a 4-3 victory Saturday over the Colorado Avalanche.
"It's meaningless," Detroit's Martin Lapointe said. "If we
don't win the Cup, it doesn't mean squat."
The Red Wings are determined to win the Stanley Cup this season,
as they did in 1997 and 1998, after getting eliminated by Colorado
in the second round the last two seasons.
"That's the only thing we're thinking about right now," said
Detroit's Mathieu Dandenault, who gave the Wings a 4-0 lead late in
the second period. "All that other stuff doesn't mean much because
we've set a lot of team and individual records over the years here.
We just want to win the cup again."
Saturday's game was relatively meaningless because Colorado
already was going to be the top seed and Detroit second in the
Western Conference playoffs, which begin Wednesday.
Detroit is slated to play Los Angeles in the first round. The
seventh-seeded Kings defeated Calgary 3-2 Saturday night to finish
off their season at 37-28-13-3.
The Red Wings rested Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov and Larry
Murphy while Colorado gave Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg and Ray
Bourque the day off.
When these teams met in last year's regular season finale in a
similar situation, the fierce rivals played the first penalty-free
game in the NHL in 20 years.
No gloves were dropped Sunday, but emotions were stirred on
numerous occasions with shoves, checks and nose-to-nose
conversations.
"These are two proud organizations so there was no way guys
were just going to go through the motions," Colorado coach Bob
Hartley said. "We're paid a lot of money to put out a quality
show, regardless of the situation, and that's what we did. They got
off to a good start, we finished strong and they won by a goal."
Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Tomas Holmstrom and
Dandenault gave Detroit a 4-0 lead. Colorado scored three goals in
the third, including Joe Sakic's second of the game with 1:10 left.
Detroit's Chris Osgood stopped 27 shots.
"I think we're playing like the Red Wings of old," Osgood
said. "We're winning a lot of one-goal games. You have to do that
to be successful in the playoffs."
David Aebischer made 26 saves for the Avalanche. Roy, who has
won a career-best 39 games, is expected to play in Colorado's last
regular-season game at Minnesota on Sunday.
Colorado's Chris Drury ruined Osgood's hopes for a shutout with
a power-play goal at 5:04 of the third. Then Sakic scored his 51st
and 52nd goals, which moved him into a tie with Pittsburgh's
Jaromir Jagr in goals scored.
Game notes
Detroit's Sergei Fedorov has not scored in 10 games, which
is one game short of the longest drought of his career. ... Detroit
won the series with Colorado 3-1. ... The Avalanche have set
franchise records in points (116), wins (51) and home victories
(28). ... Colorado's Rob Blake, who sprained his right knee on
March 20, hopes to play Sunday.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Colorado Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
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Detroit 4
Colorado 3
Florida 3
NY Rangers 0
Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 3
Dallas 5
San Jose 4
Boston 4
NY Islanders 2
New Jersey 2
Montreal 0
Ottawa 5
Toronto 3
St. Louis 1
Nashville 0
Los Angeles 3
Calgary 2
Edmonton 4
Vancouver 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Vyacheslav Kozlov beats everyone down the ice for a Detroit score.
avi: 926 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Brendan Shanahan fires the puck past David Aebischer for a goal.
avi: 863 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Chris Drury finishes off a series of good Colorado passes with a score.
avi: 1153 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mathieu Dandenault deflects the Doug Brown shot into the net for a power-play goal.
avi: 928 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Joe Sakic fires a slap-shot past Chris Osgood for the power-play goal.
avi: 1027 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Thomas Holstrom finds the back of the net behind David Aebischer for a score.
avi: 799 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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