NHL Playoffs: Roy, Drury ignite Avalanche in OT

Colorado squeezes Red Wings, 4-3; Western Conference final tied at 1-1

? Chris Drury and Patrick Roy did it again.

Drury scored his 10th career game-winning goal in the playoffs at 2:17 of overtime Monday night as Colorado beat Detroit, 4-3, to even the Western Conference finals.

Steven Reinprecht got a rebound of Peter Forsberg’s shot and set up Drury to tie the best-of-seven series 1-1.

“I’m pretty lucky to be next to this guy,” said Drury, motioning to Forsberg. “I don’t think they were watching me, they were watching him.”

Forsberg had a goal and three assists for the Avalanche, and Roy made 30 saves to improve to 10-0 following a playoff loss in which Colorado allows at least five goals.

“It was great to bail Patty out for once because he’s always there for us,” Forsberg said.

Roy shrugged off his comeback ability.

“I see it more as a team stat,” he said.

It was the third career playoff overtime goal for Drury, who leads the Avalanche with four postseason game-winning goals against the Red Wings. Colorado improved to 21-1-1 this season when Drury scores.

Drury’s game-winners in the playoffs trail only Joe Sakic’s 14 in franchise history.

“Chris Drury is one of the best money players we can have on our team,” Colorado coach Bob Hartley said.

Detroit has gotten a lot of production out of its gritty grinders, such as Darren McCarty, who scored three goals in Game One, and Kirk Maltby, who ended a 31-game playoff goal-less streak, by tying the game at 2 in the second period.

But Red Wings stars such as Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov have struggled to make an impact in the series.

“Our big guys have got to get going,” Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. “It’s a tight series and you know, there is not much room out there.”

Game Three is Wednesday night in Denver.

“We played a bad game overall,” said Dominik Hasek, who made 22 saves for the Red Wings. “We made a lot of mistakes. … We didn’t play well enough to win.”

Following the game, several players pushed and shoved each other, but no fights ensued.

Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the first, a 2-1 lead in the second and a 3-2 lead in the third. Each time, the Red Wings answered later in the period to tie it.

Not only couldn’t Roy deny a third Red Wings goal, he helped put it in the net.

On a power play, Nicklas Lidstrom’s slap shot from above the circles rebounded off the boards behind Roy. As Roy tried to kick the shot away, the puck bounced off his right blade and in with 6:35 to go.

Steve Yzerman was credited with his 100th career assist on the play while Roy just shook his head as the crowd taunted him with, “Pa-trick! Pa-trick!” chants.

Colorado’s Greg de Vries had put the Avalanche ahead 3-2 at 5:26 of the final period on a wrist shot that got past Hasek’s glove.

Alex Tanguay and Forsberg gave the Avalanche leads in the first and second periods, but Detroit’s Boyd Devereaux and Maltby each got the Red Wings even.

Forsberg scored from just inside the left circle by redirecting Martin Skoula’s pass, from the top of the right circle, off the inside of his skate.