Avalanche’s Prize: Ticket to Star Wars

As a reward for eliminating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinals, the Colorado Avalanche got Wednesday off. But it won’t have much time to savor its success because the Avalanche will face the top-ranked Dallas Stars for the conference championship, starting Saturday at Dallas.

“We have to be proud of what we did. We have a super team. But for us, this is only the second station on the road to the Cup,” said goaltender Patrick Roy, who stopped 146 of 153 Detroit shots over the last four games to lead his team’s rally from a 2-0 series deficit.

“This was an emotional series, but we can’t have a letdown in the next round. If we have, we’re in the wrong place.”

The Avalanche might not have wanted to rest, preferring instead to maintain the momentum that enabled it to overpower the Red Wings. Colorado improved its road playoff record to 6-0 by winning all three games at Detroit--only the fourth time in the Red Wings’ history they lost three home games in a playoff series--and outscored Detroit, 21-14, in the series. That included a 19-7 margin in the last four games.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep it up and keep playing well,” center Joe Sakic said. “I like it that we’re rolling all four lines and everybody’s chipping in. That’s what we’re going to need. We’re going to need the same effort from everybody.

“It’s going to be a tough series. Dallas has a great hockey team. They finished first [in points] two years in a row. . . . We haven’t done anything yet. We’ve only won two rounds, and we have a tough team to play against.”

Said Peter Forsberg, the top playoff scorer: “It’s going to be a great challenge. They’ve got an unbelievable team. It’s going to be really tough for us. We’ve got to play better than we did against Detroit and keep . . . building off this.”

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The two major over-the-air networks involved in NHL telecasts may not be thrilled about the scheduling of the conference finals.

Because an ice show was booked into Dallas’ Reunion Arena on Sunday, the Stars’ series against the Avalanche had to start Saturday, the traditional day for Hockey Night in Canada telecasts on Canada’s CBC network. Fox, which is guaranteed Sunday games, was obliged to air the Toronto-Buffalo opener Sunday afternoon, although Fox has no affiliates in Canada and Buffalo is not a major TV market that will help Fox’s ratings.