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Now the Colorado Avalanche must play a waiting game to see if its next opponent will be the Detroit Red Wings or San Jose Sharks.
"It doesn't matter who it is," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "We
know it's going to be tough no matter who we play."
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After eliminating the Dallas Stars in five games in the Western Conference quarterfinals, the Avalanche took Sunday off and will return to practice today knowing only that second-round play will begin on the road Wednesday or Thursday.
The destination will be decided late tonight when the Vancouver Canucks host
the Calgary Flames in Game 7 of their quarterfinal series.
If the third-seeded Canucks beat the sixth-seeded Flames, the fourth-seeded
Avalanche will meet the top-seeded Red Wings in a playoff series for the sixth
time in nine years. If the Flames prevail, the Avalanche will take on the second-seeded
Sharks for the third time in postseason play.
Either series would be difficult - the Avalanche went 1-2-0-1 against the Red
Wings this year, 2-1-1-0 against the Sharks - but Colorado was impressive in
knocking off the Stars, one of the NHL's hottest teams before the playoffs.
"I don't think it matters (who the Avalanche plays)," said Darby Hendrickson,
who made his only series appearance Saturday, scored a big goal and won nine
of 12 faceoffs after Alex Tanguay was scratched because of a leg injury. "This
team's biggest challenge is itself. When this team plays as well as it knows
it can, we know we are going to be successful. The focus is from within."
The biggest question for the Avalanche, other than could it rebound from a poor
stretch drive, was how David Aebischer would handle the pressure in his first
postseason as a No. 1 goalie after the retirement of Patrick Roy.
All he did was outplay Dallas' Marty Turco, registering a 1.83 goals-against
average while stopping 146 of 156 shots for a .936 saves percentage. Turco,
a Vezina Trophy candidate, recorded a 3.32 average and .849 saves percentage
- numbers that usually result in a one-way ticket out of town.
Following a legend never seemed to faze Aebischer, who in his first season as
an NHL starter won 32 games with four shutouts and posted a 2.09 average; it
was the second-best figure in franchise history, behind the 1.94 average recorded
by Roy in 2001-02.
"From Day One when I stepped into the dressing room in training camp, I
was pretty confident that I could do it," Aebischer said. "It's been
the same way throughout the whole season, throughout the playoffs.
"The intensity and what's at stake, that's what's different about the playoffs,
but the games stay the same. Guys might drive the net a little harder, guys
might try a little bit harder, but for me, that's probably the only change.
That's how I approach it."
The Swiss-born Aebischer, 26, exudes a quiet confidence but never seems boastful.
"I think David showed very good composure throughout the series,"
said Craig Billington, the team's director of player development and goaltending
consultant. Like Aebischer, Billington spent three seasons as a backup to Roy.
"David was never too high, never too low," Billington said. "He
just went out focused and did what he needed to do. He was very composed. That
sounds like a simple word, but it means a lot."
The same could be said of the whole Avalanche team. It survived a Stars onslaught
in Game 4 before pulling out a 3-2 double-overtime victory on a goal by rookie
Marek Svatos, and put its first-round flameout against Minnesota last year to
rest with its decisive triumph Saturday.
Offensively, the Avalanche received strong performances in the series from Peter
Forsberg (three goals, five assists), Sakic (four goals, two assists), Svatos
(one goal, five assists), Milan Hejduk (three goals, two assists), Rob Blake
(five assists), Tanguay (two goals, two assists) and Steve Konowalchuk (three
goals).
Defensively, the Avalanche held the Stars to 10 goals - six at even strength
- and shut down Bill Guerin (no goals on 23 shots), Jason Arnott, Mike Modano
and Sergei Zubov (one goal, one assist each) and Jere Lehtinen (no points).
The Avalanche went 6-for-21 on power plays (28.6 percent), killed 18 of 22 penalties
(81.8 percent) and scored two short-handed goals.
"I think a lot of guys played extremely well," Avalanche coach Tony
Granato said. "Our blue line was very solid. They did a good job against
very skilled and very big forwards. They took a lot of hits to make plays in
their own end. It was a very good series for a lot of players on our team."