Forsberg Shows His Value

Peter Forsberg 5, Steve Yzerman 0.

In a series of dueling superstars, Colorado’s Forsberg forged a clear goal-scoring advantage over Detroit’s Yzerman, and the Avalanche eliminated the Red Wings from the NHL playoffs with a 4-2 victory Friday night.

Forsberg’s fifth goal of the playoffs--his fourth game-deciding goal--helped Colorado claim the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series, 4-1.

The Avalanche advances to the conference finals against either Dallas or San Jose. Dallas beat San Jose, 5-4, Friday and leads that series, 3-1.

It marked the second consecutive year Colorado ousted its archrival in the second round. Since moving from Quebec in 1995, the Avalanche is 4-0 in second-round series.

“Sometimes you score a bunch of goals and never get a game-winner,” Forsberg said, “so I’ll take it.”

Forsberg’s first game-winner came in the clinching game of the first-round series against Phoenix. His other three came in each of Colorado’s home games in this series.

“It has been a bad season for me,” Forsberg said, referring to a series of injuries during the regular season. “I’ve been looking forward to the playoffs. I wasn’t feeling that great coming into the playoffs, but I’m playing better and better. Hopefully, we’ll get a few days off now and go for the next round.”

Yzerman, who has scored 627 goals but failed to score a goal in these playoffs, was dejected after the loss.

“You never enjoy losing,” he said. “We were close, just not quite good enough. That is what is disappointing. We are frustrated, because we played pretty hard. . . . We just didn’t get it done.”

Forsberg’s goal at 4:40 of the third period gave the Avalanche a 3-1 lead.