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BOX SCORE
DENVER (AP) – Mindful of the disasters that have occasionally
befallen top seeds in the first round of the playoffs, the Colorado
Avalanche wanted no part of overtime in Game 1.
|  | | Canucks' goalie Dan Cloutier made 23 saves in his first playoff game, including this one on Alex Tanguay. Five shots got past Cloutier. |
Chris Drury prevented it, scoring his second goal of the game on
a breakaway with 1:07 left Thursday night.
Drury's goal lifted the Avalanche to a 5-4 victory over the
Vancouver Canucks in the opener of a Western Conference
quarterfinal series.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday night at Denver.
Games 3 and 4 are Monday and Wednesday in Vancouver.
"I was pretty relieved," Drury said. "I didn't want to go
into overtime, when anything can happen. The way they kept bouncing
back, we wanted to end it."
Joe Sakic also had two goals and added an assist for the top-seeded Avalanche. Rob Blake had a goal and three assists, including the pass that set up Drury's game-winner.
After a turnover near mid-ice by Vancouver's Ed Jovanovski,
Blake fed the puck to a streaking Drury, who drew Dan Cloutier out
from the goal and scored on a backhander into an open net from just
left of the crease.
"Rob just kind of laid it out there," Drury said. "It was a perfect pass, in a perfect spot for me to get it. I don't know if he saw me, but he saw somebody. He just wanted to lay it out there and have someone skate into it.
"I was trying to settle the puck down. It was kind of on edge. Right when I settled it down, Cloutier was right on top of me, and the only real play I had was my backhand."
The Canucks had made it 4-4 at 10:17 of the third period on
Jovanovski's goal, following a pass from behind the net by Henrik
Sedin.
Colorado goalie Patrick Roy had 19 saves. Cloutier, who had
never before dressed for a playoff game, made 23 saves.
"If I had one guy to choose, he would be the guy," Avalanche
coach Bob Hartley said of Drury. "I've said before that in the
clutch, Chris Drury comes up big. Once again, he got us a big win."
Canucks coach Marc Crawford, who coached the Avalanche to a
Stanley Cup championship in 1996, said his team "made a mistake at
the end of the game and they capitalized on it. We can learn from
this game and be a step better, and we will be. We kept coming back
all night and got stronger as the game went on."
Eighth-seeded Vancouver scored first on Mattias Ohlund's power-play goal from just inside the blue line at 8:26.
Colorado countered with two goals just 1:14 apart later in the
period. On a power play, Sakic controlled the puck in the right
circle and beat Cloutier with a wrist shot at 15:22.
Moments later, Ohlund was whistled for dislodging the net while
the puck was in the crease. Blake capitalized on the power play
with his first playoff goal since 1993. Blake's shot from the slot
came at 16:36.
Canucks defenseman Scott Lachance had the best save of the
period, flicking away a shot by Peter Forsberg as it appeared headed for the corner of the goal.
Trent Klatt tied it at 46 seconds of the second period,
deflecting a shot from the left point with his body.
At 5:35, Drury backhanded a rebound of his own shot past
Cloutier.
Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi deflected Denis Pederson's shot at 16:33, but Sakic scored his second goal at 18:55, on a rebound of Blake's shot from just left of the goal.
Game notes
The Canucks were without their two leading regular-season
scorers. Markus Naslund (broken leg) is out for the season, and
Andrew Cassels (sprained ankle) will miss at least the first two
games of this series. ... Colorado D Ray Bourque missed the game because of a strained back. ... Avalanche C Steven Reinprecht departed after the first period with the flu. ... The Canucks are making their first playoff appearance in five years. In their last
appearance, they were eliminated by Colorado in the first round in
six games. ... Colorado won the season series 3-2. ... Vancouver
won just one of its last 10 road games in the regular season and
posted only two wins overall in its last 17 games.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Vancouver Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
Canucks-Avalanche Series Page
Frei: Win one for Ray? Yeah, him too.
The heir apparent
RECAPS
St. Louis 3
San Jose 1
New Jersey 5
Carolina 1
Washington 1
Pittsburgh 0
Colorado 5
Vancouver 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Chris Drury settles the game by passing Dan Cloutier and scoring with a minute left in the game.
avi: 1535 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Rob Blake puts the Av's up 2-1 off the sweet pass from Joe Sakic.
avi: 1466 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
The puck bounces around in front of the net before Joe Sakic puts it into the net.
avi: 1693 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mattias Ohlund gets a friendly screen and puts the puck past Patrick Roy.
avi: 1538 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Henrik Sedin sends the puck from behind the net to Ed Jovanovski who ties the game again.
avi: 1301 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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