Detroit Pays the Penalty

Patrick Roy was back in form. For Uwe Krupp, it was enough simply to be back.

Roy rebounded from his worst game of the playoffs and Krupp scored a power-play goal early in the third period as Colorado beat Detroit, 4-2, Saturday night to move within a victory of the Stanley Cup finals.

Roy, who struggled in Detroit’s 6-4 victory in Game 3 Thursday night, had 29 saves Saturday as the Avalanche took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference final series. Game 5 is Monday night in Detroit.

“My focus was a lot easier tonight,” Roy said. “There was more pressure, I was more nervous, it was easier to get into the game.

“It was a huge game for us. We had to win this game. Now we are up 3-1. We know it is not going to be easy, but we are in a very good position.”

A critical four-minute penalty on Detroit’s Dino Ciccarelli helped Colorado score its third goal. Ciccarelli was assessed a double-minor penalty for high-sticking and unsportsmanlike conduct at 19:31 of the second period, and the Red Wings nearly killed it off.

Colorado mounted few scoring threats during the anemic power play, but with six seconds left in the penalty, Krupp put a soft wrist shot from the right circle through four players and past a screened Chris Osgood at 3:25 of the third period.

“It was a good, grinding goal--a total team goal,” Krupp said. “We had a lot of guys in front of Osgood.”

Krupp said softer shots make more sense in the playoffs “because there’s so much pressure on the shooter and you have only so much time. A lot of times with a big windup, you get a shot blocked.”

Krupp, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the regular-season opener and had expected to sit out the entire season, returned for the final six games.

“A couple of months ago I didn’t think I would be playing this year at all,” he said. “All that rehab work paid off in the end.”

Doug Brown cut the deficit to 3-2, scoring from the slot at 14:02. But Roy made several critical saves down the stretch, including a stop on a shot in close by Tim Taylor with three minutes to play.

The Red Wings pulled Osgood with a minute left, and Peter Forsberg scored on empty-net goal.

NHL Notes

Brian Burke, the NHL’s director of hockey operations, scheduled a hearing for this morning on a complaint filed by the Florida Panthers against Pittsburgh Penguin winger Dave Roche for Roche’s actions Friday during a melee after the end of Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff series. Any supplemental discipline decreed by Burke could prevent Roche from playing today, when they meet in Game 4 at the Miami Arena. The Panthers claim Roche used his stick to butt-end Tom Fitzgerald in the face, leaving Fitzgerald with a possible broken nose, damage to his nasal cavity and several stitches.