WESTERN SEMIFINALS

NO. 2 COLORADO (44-28-10) vs. NO. 3 DETROIT (43-32-7)

* Season series: Tied, 2-2.

* Top scorers: Colorado--Peter Forsberg 30 goals-67 assists--97 points. Detroit--Steve Yzerman 29-45--74.

* Goals-against average: Colorado 2.47 (11th). Detroit 2.44 (10th).

* Power play: Colorado 18.9% (fifth). Detroit 16.1% (11th).

* Penalty killing: Colorado 83.7% (17th). Detroit 87.3% (third).

* Keys: In their last two playoff encounters, the winner went on to win the Cup--and both teams were bloodied. In the 1996 West finals, Colorado’s Claude Lemieux nailed Detroit’s Kris Draper with a check from behind, necessitating facial surgery for Draper. Colorado won that series, but Detroit got even a year later. The war of words has begun, with Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley claiming the Red Wings are favored by referees because of Scotty Bowman’s stature. Bowman has bigger concerns, such as the knee injury goalie Chris Osgood suffered in the finale of Detroit’s first-round sweep of the Mighty Ducks. If Osgood can’t start, Bill Ranford--the 1990 Cup MVP with Edmonton--will step in. Injuries forced Colorado to make adjustments: center and premier penalty killer Stephane Yelle has a sprained knee and will be replaced by veteran Dale Hunter; defenseman Alexei Gusarov (sprained knee) is out and winger Valeri Kamensky, whose arm was broken on a slash by Detroit’s Kirk Maltby in March, is awaiting clearance. If there’s no goonery, this series will be better than the Cup finals. Look for Chris Chelios and Nicklas Lidstrom to shadow Colorado’s Peter Forsberg, and Ulf Samuelsson to hound Joe Sakic (three goals, 12 points). But that leaves Adam Deadmarsh, Theo Fleury and rookie Milan Hejduk (three goals, seven points) as threats. Steve Yzerman (five goals, seven points) was solid against the Ducks, and the Red Wings need leadership from him and Brendan Shanahan (three goals, six points). Goalie Patrick Roy was awful in Game 4 against San Jose but was terrific in the last two games. Colorado in seven.

EASTERN SEMIFINALS

NO. 4 TORONTO (45-30-7) vs. NO. 8 PITTSBURGH (38-30-14)

* Season series: 2-2.

* Top scorers: Toronto--Mats Sundin 31 points-52 assists--83 points. Pittsburgh--Jaromir Jagr 44-83--127.

* Goals-against average: Toronto 2.79 (21st). Pittsburgh 2.69 (17th).

* Power play: Toronto 14.4% (17th). Pittsburgh 17.9% (seventh).

* Penalty killing: Toronto 80.3% (24th). Pittsburgh 81.5% (23rd).

* Keys: The Penguins’ long-range future is in the hands of U.S. Bankruptcy Court, but they seem to have plenty of heroics in the bank. Led by a hobbled but still brilliant Jaromir Jagr, they rallied to defeat the top-seeded New Jersey Devils in seven games in the first round. Jagr sat out four games because of a pulled groin muscle but scored the tying and winning goals in Game 6 and set up two goals in Game 7. “Jaromir wouldn’t let us lose,” right wing Alexei Kovalev said of Jagr, the NHL scoring champion and a finalist for most valuable player. Kovalev (four goals, 10 points) and Martin Straka (six goals, 11 points) were also superb against the Devils, but goalie Tom Barrasso was merely adequate. Defenseman Kevin Hatcher played well, but the other defensemen are so-so. The Maple Leafs, Canada’s last Stanley Cup hope, led the NHL with 268 goals but scored only nine in their six-game triumph over the Flyers and never scored more than two in a game. That’s not going to work again. Mats Sundin, their captain and first-line center, had only one goal and two points, and he must produce for the Maple Leafs to have a chance. Defenseman Bryan Berard led Toronto with five points, all assists, but the Maple Leafs’ defense may not be physical enough to slop Jagr, Kovalev, German Titov, Robert Lang and Jan Hrdina. The Maple Leafs’ strength is their goaltending: Curtis Joseph is a Vezina finalist and got some support for MVP. He will make this a long series and could swing it in Toronto’s favor if he’s hot. Pittsburgh in seven.