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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
DENVER (AP) – Milan Hejduk underscored his reputation as a
Canuck killer.
|  | | Jon Klemm, Ville Nieminen, Peter Forsberg and Chris Drury celebrate after Nieminen's goal tied the Avs and Canucks at 1. |
Ville Nieminen and Hejduk scored goals 42 seconds apart in the
third period, rallying the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-1 victory over
the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in their
Western Conference quarterfinal.
Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-seven series are in Vancouver on Monday and Wednesday nights.
Hejduk scored seven of his 41 regular-season goals against Vancouver, including two game-winners.
Hejduk, who didn't score a goal in his final seven regular-season games, said, "I hope this is the kind of goal that gets me going.
"Joe (Sakic) passed to me. I waited back a little bit so I
could get the pass. Vancouver is playing good hockey and they're
not giving us much room. It was hard to get anything going, so I'm
excited we won tonight."
Brendan Morrison's power-play goal early in the second period
and Bob Essensa's stellar goaltending had given Vancouver a 1-0 lead.
Nieminen, a rookie wing, tied it at 2:22 of the third period. Peter Forsberg brought the puck down the ice, drawing defensive pressure before passing to Nieminen in the right circle.
"I just closed my eyes and shot the puck," Nieminen said.
Then, at 3:04, Sakic drove down the middle and fed Hejduk in the right circle.
Avalanche coach Bob Hartley called it vintage Hejduk.
"Great patience, great skill," Hartley said. "He made a fake to get (Murray) Baron to go down and you let him slide past the net and then roofed it over Essensa's shoulder. I don't think you can get much better than that."
Patrick Roy had 18 saves, and Essensa, making his first playoff start in seven years, stopped 23 shots.
"We're disappointed we didn't get the win," Canucks coach Marc Crawford said, "but we're not at all downtrodden.
"I think our guys are getting more confident in the way we're
playing, more confident in how to play in the playoffs. It's been a
new experience. We would love to have split in here, but we're down
two games and we'll deal with it. We know that if we keep battling
and keep improving, we've got a real good chance in this series.
"We're ready to come at these guys with everything we've got in Game 3."
In a scoreless first period, Colorado got off eight shots on
goal before Vancouver got its first shot, by Donald Brashear at 15:40. By the end of the period, however, Vancouver had closed the gap to 9-6.
The teams engaged in four early shoving matches, but no fights.
Essensa had several nice stops early in the game, and he had the
metal cage of his mask bent by a shot from Rob Blake midway through the period.
With one second left in the period, Colorado picked up its second quick penalty, giving Vancouver a 5-on-3 advantage for 36 seconds.
Morrison scored just as the two-man advantage ended, tucking the
puck between Roy and the right post at 35 seconds for his first goal in 12 career playoff games.
Vancouver went 10 minutes in the second period without a shot,
and Colorado had several prime scoring chances. Forsberg hit the
crossbar and Blake hit the post, and Essensa made a sprawling save
after Chris Drury stole the puck in the slot.
Vancouver defenseman Scott Lachance left the game early in the
second period with a strained medial collateral ligament in his
left knee after being hit by Shjon Podein and did not return.
Colorado was without defenseman Ray Bourque (strained back) for the second straight game, and Vancouver was missing forwards Markus
Naslund (broken leg) and Andrew Cassels (sprained ankle).
Game notes
Essensa is in his 11th NHL season with his fifth team. ... While playing for Edmonton in 1999, Essensa stopped 50 shots in a
4-3 win over the Avalanche. ... The Canucks, in the playoffs for
the first time in five years, last won a playoff game on April 22,
1996, a 4-3 decision over Colorado. ... Colorado, which went
3-for-5 on power plays in the series opener, was 0-for-5 Saturday
night.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Vancouver Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
Canucks-Avalanche Series Page
RECAPS
Detroit 4
Los Angeles 0
Buffalo 4
Philadelphia 3
San Jose 1
St. Louis 0
Pittsburgh 2
Washington 1
Edmonton 4
Dallas 3
Toronto 3
Ottawa 0
Colorado 2
Vancouver 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Milan Hejduk fires the puck top-shelf past Bob Essensa for an Avalanche goal.
avi: 1227 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Vancouver's Brendan Morrison sneaks the puck past Patrick Roy for a power-play goal.
avi: 1086 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Ville Nieminen trickles the puck past Bob Essensa for a Vancouver score.
avi: 1085 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Bob Essensa stands up to a Colorado onslaught in the first period of Game 2.
avi: 974 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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