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Toronto Maple Leafs center Mats Sundin returned to the lineup Sunday night, but Joe Nieuwendyk was inactive because of an undisclosed injury.
Sundin missed four games with a knee injury. Hurt in Game 4 of Toronto's opening-round series against Ottawa, Sundin said Saturday he had made a ``huge'' improvement.
Nieuwendyk was held scoreless in Game 1 of the second-round series. Toronto coach Pat Quinn said Nieuwendyk should not have played, but ``that's the kind of player he is.''
The Toronto Star reported Saturday that Nieuwendyk had back spasms, but Quinn would not confirm the injury.
For the Flyers, defenseman Kim Johnsson was scratched for the second straight game with a broken bone in his right hand.
Two goals in three playoff games isn't what the Colorado Avalanche envisioned when they put together a lineup filled with All-Stars. The defense hasn't been much help, either.
After struggling at both ends in two lopsided losses in San Jose, the Avalanche head home for Monday's Game 3 of their second-round Western Conference series knowing they'll have to play better -- or it's going to be a real short series.
``I don't know if they're hungrier, but they've played hungrier the first two games,'' Colorado defenseman Rob Blake said. ``We've got to be ready to play our best game of the year Monday. That's all there is to it.''
It won't be easy against a team that's still on a roll that started back in November.
The Sharks opened the season with just two wins in their first 14 games, but went on to win the Pacific Division with 43 wins and 104 points. San Jose kept it going in the first round of the playoffs, beating St. Louis 4-1. The Sharks have been even better against the Avalanche.
The Sharks outscored Colorado 9-3 the first two games of the series, including Saturday's 4-1 victory in Game 2, and have caused the Avalanche problems with their speed and puck-control style.
``I don't know
what we did, but we didn't play well,'' Avalanche forward Teemu Selanne said.
``When this team is playing well, nobody can beat us, and that's how we can
look at it. We've got to fix some things.''
It won't be easy the way Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov is playing.
Solid during the regular season with 31 wins and a 2.20 goals-against average, Nabokov has been sensational against the Avs. Diving and sliding across the crease for saves, he's held Colorado's high-priced stars to just three goals on 49 shots.
Nabokov even showed he can take a hit, holding the Avalanche scoreless for 2 1/2 periods in Game 2 after being bowled over by Colorado's Peter Forsberg.
``Nabby's really been strong for us,'' Sharks forward Mike Ricci said. ``He's having a great series.''
The same can't be said for Colorado's David Aebischer.
He was solid during the regular season after replacing Patrick Roy, and proved it was no fluke in the first round against Dallas. But against the Sharks, Aebischer has looked shaky at times and allowed a few soft goals.
Not that it's all his fault.
Colorado's blue-liners did a good job of standing up Dallas' top skaters in the first round, but have let the Sharks build up a head of steam for good scoring chances. Even when the Avalanche have slowed San Jose, missed assignments have left Aebischer in helpless positions.
In case that's not enough, the Avalanche have given San Jose 18 power plays in two games.
``The reason why we've lost two games is ourselves,'' Blake said. ``Give them credit, they've played very well and very hard, but I still think we have a much, much better (effort) to give and we haven't seen that out of us.''