Kozlov, Vernon Lead Wings
NHL playoffs
He is almost the forgotten man in Detroit. He is perhaps the least visible of the famed Russian Five. All Vyacheslav Kozlov does is win.
Kozlov scored both Detroit goals and goalie Mike Vernon made them hold up as the Red Wings defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 Monday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference finals.
“Kozzie plays with a lot of heart,” Detroit forward Darren McCarty said. “He’s an underrated player in this league, because people overlook him.”
Those people might include his own coach. Scotty Bowman had used Kozlov sparingly the first two periods. That’s why he was on the ice for the game-winner in the third.
“He’s been our producer in the playoffs,” Bowman said. “His line was fresh, due to the time not being on the ice killing penalties. We saw Kozlov had played only 9 minutes after two periods, and we knew we had to increase his ice time in the third period.”
Kozlov’s second goal of the game, seventh of the playoffs, came on a wrist shot that sailed over Patrick Roy’s blocker, just inside the right post, at 8:20 of the third period.
“That goal was a classic goal by Kozlov,” Colorado coach Marc Crawford said. “It was a great shot.”
Colorado never lost two straight games during last year’s Stanley Cup run. But the playoffs have been a different story. The Avalanche lost Games 3 and 4 in Chicago.
“You can’t think about Game 1, 2 or 3 anymore,” Colorado forward Mike Keane said. “We have to get ready for Game 4.”
Game 4 will be played Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings are trying to end a 42-year drought without a Stanley Cup championship. The series moves back to Colorado for Game 5 Saturday night.
Joe Sakic’s sixth goal pulled the Avalanche into a 1-1 tie on a power play at 14:47 of the second period. It was the fifth time in the game Colorado had a man advantage as the Red Wings slipped into an old habit of taking bad penalties.
“Both goalies played pretty well,” Sakic said. “We had our chances in the third period. But we didn’t get it done.”
Kozlov opened the scoring on the second shot of the game. Taking a pass from Sergei Fedorov in front of the net, Kozlov shot it over Roy’s blocker at the 1:12 mark.
The rest of the first period was a virtuoso performance by Vernon.”Vernon played very well for them,” Crawford said. “Goaltending has been a very big factor in this series.”
Red Wings 2, Avalanche 1
Colorado 0 1 0 - 1 Detroit 1 0 1 - 2
First period-1, Detroit, Kozlov 6 (Fedorov), 1:12.
Second period-2, Colorado, Sakic 6 (Ozolinsh, Young), 14:47 (pp).
Third period-3, Detroit, Kozlov 7 (Fedorov, Brown), 8:20.
Shots on goal-Colorado 13-8-7-28. Detroit 7-8-13-28.Power-play opp.- Colorado 1 of 5; Detroit 0 of 5.Goalies-Colorado, Roy 9-5 (28 shots-26 saves). Detroit, Vernon 10-3 (28-27).A-19,983 (19,983).