One of the most heated rivalries in sports, much less the NHL, resumes on Thursday night in the Motor City when the Colorado Avalanche visit the Red Wings – with Detroit a -190 money line betting favorite (over/under: 5) on WagerWeb.com.
Detroit and Colorado met in five fight-filled postseasons between 1996-2002 -- with the Avs advancing three times -- and the franchises combined to win five Stanley Cups during that seven-year stretch.
"There is something special there, for sure," Detroit's Kris Draper said. "Going into the rink and playing those guys, you just didn't know what was going to happen."
Draper and Darren McCarty are two of the eight players who helped the Red Wings beat Colorado in the 2002 conference finals and win their third title in six years.
The Avs have just four players -- Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk -- still around from the previous matchup in the playoffs.Detroit beat Nashville in six games in Round 1, while the Avs beat Minnesota in six. But Colorado did not beat Detroit in four regular season games and was shut out in the final three meetings. Colorado hasn't
scored a goal against Detroit since Dec. 27, starting a scoreless streak that is at 214-plus minutes entering the series.
Colorado managed fewer than 20 shots in each shutout loss, recording 19 in a 1-0 loss Jan. 8, 15 in a 2-0 loss Feb. 1, and 18 in a 4-0 loss Feb. 18.
"We didn't get many scoring chances as a group against them this year," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think we have to make sure that when we do get them, we've got to bury them."
But the Wings will be facing a different Colorado club, with the return of some healthy players (Sakic, Ryan Smyth, Paul Stastny) and the late-season additions of Forsberg and Foote. And goalie Jose Theodore is playing as well as he has since arriving from Montreal two years ago.
"They're a totally different team," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said, dismissing the season series as an advantage. "I don't believe there's any transfer whatsoever."
Theodore was in top form in Round 1, with a .940 save percentage and 1.88 goals-against average.
The Wings, meanwhile, switched from Dominik Hasek to Chris Osgood in Game 4 of the Predators series, and he responded with a 2-0 record and sterling 0.39 GAA.
Both Detroit and Colorado scored 17 goals and gave up 12 in their first playoff series.
Colorado scored six power-play goals in its quarterfinal series against Minnesota. The Avalanche scored on half of their chances (4-of-8) on the road. Detroit held Colorado scoreless on 11 chances during the regular season. The Wings, meanwhile, converted on only 11.5 percent of their power play chances against the Predators.
Forward Tomas Holmstrom said the Wings weren't happy with that.
"The margin is so small," Holmstrom said. "As long as we get chances and get to the net, good things happen and then sooner or later the puck is going to go in."
Betting trends: Under is 9-2-1 in Avs' last 12 Thursday games. ... Under is 9-3-4 in Avs' last 16 road games. ... Wings are 212-76-16 in their last 304 home games. ... Avs are 8-22 in the last 30 meetings.
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