Being at home and having Peter Forsberg (Box 6) and Scott Hannan (Box 11) back in the line-up seemed to make a bit of a difference for the Avalanche, but it certainly was far from being enough to keep the dominant Red Wings at bay. The Red Wings stormed the Pepsi Center in Denver and took Game 3 with a 4-3 score. At times, the Red Wings seemed to let the Avalanche back into the game, especially early in the third, but they quickly closed up shop and let Chris Osgood (non-pool) take the win.
It was a second period goal that ended up being the winner. Henrik Zetterberg (Box 1) notched his first winner of the playoffs and gave his 20 owners a bonus point. Him and Pavel Datsyuk (Box 2) each finished the game with 3 pool points, Datsyuk had 2 goals and an assist in the game. Mikael Samuelsson (Box 6) also added a pair of assists for his 4 owners in the pool. The Red Wings now sit on the verge of eliminating the Avalanche in a contest which was very one-sided to say the least. Game 4 will be the late game on Thursday night.
It could be argued that the incomplete line-up for the Avalanche was the problem yet again. Ryan Smyth (Box 7) missed the game with a foot injury and then the team lost forward Paul Statsny (Box 1) to a knee injury in the first period and never returned. The two injuries made the return of Forsberg and Hannan more important, but only to fill the gaps left behind. With the inclusion of Hannan to the line-up, Jeff Finger (Box 10) sat again as a healthy scratch.
No comments:
Post a Comment