Things Snowball Quickly on Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche certainly did not have the look of a champion.

With a chance to send the Kings packing for vacation, Coach Bob Hartley’s bunch seemed to fall apart before Saturday’s Game 6 began after learning that Peter Forsberg would not be in the lineup because of a leg injury.

Although the Avalanche played the regular season without Forsberg and finished with the second-best record in the Western Conference, it didn’t have the same spark without him in a 3-1 defeat to the Kings in front of a boisterous sellout crowd at Staples Center.

“Forsberg is not playing and he didn’t play for a reason,” Hartley said. “You always hope that a player like Peter will play, but in the end, it is basically the player’s decision.”

Forsberg, who did not play during the regular season because of foot and ankle injuries, participated in warmups before the game but pulled himself out of the lineup because of an undisclosed leg injury.

He is expected to play in Monday’s Game 7 at Pepsi Center.

“If nothing really happens, yes, I will be playing in Game 7,” Forsberg said. “I’m not going to give details right now.... It’s not related to the [ankle] tendon [which required surgery].... I took warmups to see if it was good enough to play and I realized that it wasn’t.”

Without Forsberg in the lineup, the Avalanche played the first period as if it were the Mighty Ducks.

In falling behind, 2-0, Colorado did not do many things correctly.

Pucks Avalanche defensemen usually kept in the Kings’ zone eluded them. Power-play passes that used to go stick to stick turned into turnovers, and King shots that the Avalanche normally blocked ended up being goals.

“It seemed like we were trying to find an easy way to do it,” Colorado defenseman Adam Foote said. “We got ourselves into a situation where we’ve been before. There’s no looking back now. We can sit here and dwell and be negative, but the bottom line is that we’re in a Game 7. We know that we have to leave it all out there now.”

The Avalanche failed to do that in Game 6.

“After the warmup, we saw that Peter didn’t feel good and decided not to play,” defenseman Martin Skoula said. “When we didn’t have him during the season, a lot of guys stepped up and played well for us. That didn’t happen today.”

Although Colorado outshot the Kings, 24-20, most of the shots by the Avalanche came in the third period, when it was desperate. With forward Adam Deadmarsh and defenseman Philippe Boucher out of the lineup because of injuries, the Kings frustrated Colorado by keeping their game plan simple after jumping out to a 2-0 lead.

Instead of taking chances offensively, the Kings were content to make the Avalanche work for goals.

The tactic worked behind goaltender Felix Potvin, who made one great stop after another.

“I think we frustrated them,” said forward Eric Belanger, who skated in place of Deadmarsh on the Kings’ No. 1 line. “It’s always hard to tell about what they’re thinking, but you can tell they had trouble with us playing a simple game with so many key guys out. We just didn’t try and do too much and it worked.”

The Kings were at their frustrating best when Colorado had a man advantage. The Avalanche failed to score on six power plays.

“Sometimes you can struggle in different areas, trying to press too much,” Foote said. “It’s like everyone is trying a little too hard. We have to let it happen.”

Added defenseman Rob Blake: “We have to score when we’re on the power play. ... We had a couple of opportunities to make the game a little closer but we didn’t.... They are committed to blocking and we have to find a way to get the puck through there.”

After the Kings’ overtime victory in Game 5, the Avalanche complained about Craig Johnson’s winning goal. The Avalanche did not have that problem after Saturday’s game because the players knew the Kings outplayed them.

“Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise to have to play a Game 7,” Foote said. “Sometimes stuff happens. We can’t get caught up in what everyone else thinks. We have to bear down together as a unit.

“Every playoff run that I’ve been in there’s been good times and bad times.... We know what we have to do.”

Fixing its power play, which has not scored a goal since Game 2, is high on the Avalanche’s list.

“We had some good chances, but we couldn’t get the puck in,” said Colorado captain Joe Sakic, who did not score for the second consecutive game despite having five shots on goal.