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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Ray Bourque has waited 22 years for a
Stanley Cup, and he isn't about to let his aging back prevent him
from hoisting it in the air.
Bourque strained his back in the first period Sunday, but was
content to sit out and watch his Colorado teammates hold off
Minnesota 4-2 behind Joe Sakic's two goals and Patrick Roy's 40th
victory.
|  | | Eric Messier, left and the Colorado Avalanche used Sunday's 4-2 win vs. Minnesota as a tuneup for the playoffs. |
"It was just a back strain. I kind of bumped into someone and
it stiffened up," the 40-year old defenseman said. "I didn't want
to mess with it, so I took it easy the rest of the way."
Asked if he would be ready to go on Thursday when Colorado hosts
eighth-seeded Vancouver in the playoffs, Bourque simply smiled.
"I'm expecting to skate this week and everything is going be fine," Bourque said.
"Everybody is on a mission," he added. "We're on a mission to
win 16 games in the playoffs."
One of the driving forces behind that mission is that time may
be running out on Bourque's quest.
"It's a good incentive," coach Bob Hartley said. "He's well-respected and a leader in the locker room. And, to win one Cup for
Ray, very simply means one Cup for everybody."
On Sunday, Sakic (54 goals) and Roy both set career highs for
Colorado (52-16-10-4), which finished the regular season with a
franchise-best 118 points. The team also set franchise marks for
wins, home wins (28) and home points (63).
"Our long-term plan for the regular season was to be
consistent," Hartley said. "But apart from home-ice incentive,
what we did in the regular season doesn't mean anything now."
Now, the Avalanche coach will get a chance to match wits with
the man he replaced in Colorado, Vancouver's Marc Crawford.
Crawford coached the Avalanche for four years, from 1994-98, and
led them to a Stanley Cup championship in 1995-96.
"When it comes down to it, it's the Colorado Avalanche against
the Vancouver Canucks," Hartley said. "It's up to us to prepare
ourselves mentally. It's not on TV, it's not in the papers. It will
be played on the ice."
Minnesota (25-39-13-5), which won just once in its last 14
games, set an expansion record by selling out all 41 regular-season
games at the Xcel Energy Center for an average attendance of
18,402.
"The team that we have right now, it's guys that want to play,
that played hard," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "You saw
it again tonight, too, from the first game to the last and we're
very proud of them for that."
The Avalanche entered Sunday's game with the Presidents' Trophy
already in hand, but all of their stars played Sunday in
preparation for the playoffs. Midway through, the Avalanche led 3-0
and had as many goals as Minnesota had shots.
Colorado opened the scoring at the 2:20 mark on Ville Nieminen's
14th goal. Rob Blake, playing in his first game since March 20
because of a sprained right knee, ripped a low slap shot from the
point that Nieminen deflected under the crossbar.
Alex Tanguay, working from behind the net, hit a shot that
ricocheted off defenseman Brad Bombardir's skates into the net to
make it 2-0.
Sakic's one-timer from the right circle made it 3-0 at the 7:36
mark in the second. His empty-net goal with 26 seconds left moved
him past Michel Goulet for the franchise goal-scoring lead with
457.
Minnesota got on the board on Wes Walz's score at 13:51 of the
second – the Wild's expansion-record 13th short-handed goal.
The Wild got within 3-2 with 2:58 left in the period when Darby
Hendrickson put a rebound past Roy.
With 5:00 left, Minnesota had a flurry of three straight chances
from just outside the crease that Roy seemed to stop with each part
of his body.
The Wild broke the NHL expansion team attendance record this
season, playing in front of 754,472 Minnesota fans.
Game notes
Colorado set a franchise record for the fourth straight
year for goals allowed, giving up 192. ... The Avalanche have lost
to Dallas in the Western Conference finals the last two seasons –
both times in seven games. ... Minnesota signed free agent
defenseman Travis Roche from the University of North Dakota. Roche,
a sophomore who played on the 2000 NCAA championship team, was in
Minnesota's lineup following North Dakota's overtime loss to Boston
College in Saturday's NCAA championship. ... The Avalanche improved
to 11-1-0-2 in the second game of back-to-back games this season.
... Colorado finished 5-0 against Minnesota and is the only team in
the Western Conference against which the Wild did not gain at least
one point.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Colorado Clubhouse
Minnesota Clubhouse
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 6
Carolina 4
Colorado 4
Minnesota 2
Philadelphia 2
Buffalo 1
Columbus 4
Chicago 3
Washington 2
Tampa Bay 1
San Jose 4
Anaheim 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Joe Sakic scores the empty-net goal against Minnesota.
avi: 502 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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