Slowed Forsberg Still Enough

For the second consecutive night, the Kings did a good job of slowing down Colorado’s Peter Forsberg and his linemates. But sometimes being good is not enough.

Although Forsberg was limited to only one shot on goal and recorded only one hit, he made a key play that led to Colorado’s 1-0 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night in Game 4 of their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

“I came in on the left side [with the puck] and I really didn’t want to throw it away and get a turnover there,” Forsberg said about Colorado’s second-period goal. “So I kept it and went into the corner. Dru [Chris Drury] picked it up and passed to [Steven] Reinprecht, who was standing in the slot by himself. He made an unbelievable shot.”

For the Kings, Reinprecht’s goal was a heartbreaker, considering that they basically did what they set out to do defensively against Forsberg’s line.

“It was a great shot,” King forward Ian Laperriere said. “There’s really nothing we could have done about that. Maybe we could have done something with the puck in their zone ... I guess we didn’t do as well as we did in Game 3 because that’s the line that scored.”

Forsberg, who returned to the Avalanche lineup for this series after being sidelined for the regular season because of foot and ankle injuries, gave the Kings a major headache in the first two games. If he wasn’t steamrollering down the wing crashing the net, Forsberg was laying hits on Kings all over the ice on his way to accounting for five points in helping Colorado to a 2-0 lead in the series.

But Forsberg wasn’t as effective in Monday’s Game 3 as the Kings played as if he had a bounty on his head. “People are saying we’re targeting Forsberg,” King Coach Andy Murray said Tuesday morning. “We’re not targeting Forsberg. We were trying to target anything that had on a maroon jersey ... That’s just the way we have to play against them. And they’re trying to do the same thing to us. It’s a physical game out there.”

In his attempt to slow down Forsberg in Los Angeles, Murray reunited his “grind line” of Mikko Eloranta, Brad Chartrand and Laperriere.

“That’s a line that played together for us over the last two months of the season,” Murray said. “They’ve always done a good job playing against the other team’s top units. They have been effective in that role.”

In Game 3, the “grind line” was at their irritating best as they made life difficult for Forsberg.

“You try to get under his skin,” said Eloranta, whose experience against Forsberg has mostly come when they competed internationally for Finland and Sweden respectively. “He’s such a great a player. I just try to take him away from his game ... He tries to do the same thing to me.”

Forsberg, who delivered 13 hits over the first three games of the series, didn’t score a point in Game 3 because the Kings prevented him from building up speed with body checks and all-out effort.

The Kings continued their strong play on Forsberg Tuesday. He was limited to only one shot on goal in the first, which came late in the period after Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley gave him some ice time with Joe Sakic on Colorado’s top line.

The Kings tried to keep up their lockdown on Forsberg in the second but the Colorado forward broke out to make a play that led to the only goal.

In what started out as a basic play in the Kings’ zone, Forsberg was tied up with Chartrand before sending the puck into the corner. When it came time to get possession of the puck, Forsberg won the battle and it landed up on Drury’s stick, who then found former King Reinprecht for the only score of the game 5:57 into the period.

It was the type of play coaches always preach about when they want their players to do the little things.

“We know that we have to play hard against Forsberg every second he’s on the ice,” Laperriere said. “He is the type of player who is going is get tougher with each game as the series goes on. He’s getting in better shape every night.

“People don’t really realize how physical he is. He’ll hit people if he has a chance. I respect him a lot. He works hard out there and plays fair.”

Unfortunately for the Kings, Forsberg also makes plays when they count the most.