Avalanche Takes a Bite Out of Sharks and Evens Series

There were no offensive fireworks or defensive blunders for the Colorado Avalanche--only a workmanlike victory.

Captain Joe Sakic scored two goals and Patrick Roy stopped 19 shots as the Avalanche defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-1, Wednesday night at San Jose, evening their Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.

Rob Blake opened the scoring with his fifth goal in three games for the Avalanche, which won with a defensive tenacity lacking during San Jose’s two victories. Roy was rarely tested in winning his 143rd playoff game.

Game 5 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Denver and Game 6 is Monday in San Jose.

The Avalanche’s defensemen, who provided little support for Roy in Game 3, were rock-solid, while its offensive stars got the big points expected of them.

Peter Forsberg, the playoffs’ leading scorer, had two assists as Colorado won at San Jose for the sixth time in seven games since January 2000.

Teemu Selanne scored his fourth goal in four games for the Sharks. A breakaway goal in the first period by Patrick Marleau was disallowed, and Colorado ended Marleau’s eight-game points streak.

In Game 3, Colorado blew a lead entering the third period for the first time this season, as San Jose scored three unanswered goals in its 6-4 victory. This time, the Avalanche fixed every problem that led to 29 combined goals in the first three games.

Roy improved to 8-0 in playoff games after giving up more than six goals with the Avalanche.

His counterpart, Evgeni Nabokov, stopped 21 shots but was left helpless by San Jose’s defensive mistakes on Colorado’s first two goals.

For the second game in a row, Blake gave the Avalanche an early lead, this time on a breakaway goal 5:26 of the first period. Blake sat out Game 1 of the series because of an injury, but scored two goals in each of the next two games.

Toronto 2, Ottawa 1--After spending most of the playoffs complaining about calls that went against them, the Maple Leafs got a critical one in their favor, allowing them to hang on for a victory over the Senators at Ottawa.

A video review with 25.4 seconds remaining disallowed what had initially been ruled a Senator goal, and the Maple Leafs held on to tie their Eastern Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

“That’s the only call they could’ve made,” Toronto’s Shayne Corson said. “The puck didn’t go into the net. Obviously, we’re happy with that call.”

The play began when Ottawa’s Chris Phillips checked Bryan McCabe off the puck behind the Toronto net. Goaltender Curtis Joseph stopped Phillips’ wraparound attempt, but couldn’t find the puck, which was under him. Ottawa’s Marian Hossa dived headfirst into the crease and pushed Joseph into the net.

Referee Kevin Pollock, standing behind the net, ruled it a goal. A video review showed the puck did not cross the line, and what Pollock saw was the black nob of a stick.

“I was standing right there and I thought there was no way the puck went in,” McCabe said. “I really didn’t have a doubt in my mind. He pointed, but there was no puck in the net. I really wasn’t too worried.”

The Senators refused to make the ruling an issue.

“There’s not much that we can do now,” captain Daniel Alfredsson said.

Alyn McCauley scored twice, both times converting rebounds off shots by Gary Roberts, as the Maple Leafs won their first road game of the postseason after four losses.

Wade Redden scored for the Senators, who squandered a lead for the first time this postseason.

The Senators managed only three shots in the first 20 minutes, tying a franchise playoff low, set twice, most recently in a 2000 first-round game against Toronto.

That start--not how the game ended--is what discouraged the Senators most.

“We didn’t do a good enough job getting good dump-ins, where we could forecheck hard,” Alfredsson said. “We made it a lot easy for their defensemen tonight.”

The Senators lost defenseman Sami Salo to an undisclosed upper body injury, after he crashed heavily into the boards going after a loose puck two minutes into the second period.

Game 5 of the series is Friday at Toronto.