As the Avalanche practiced at Family Sports Center on Tuesday, it still didn’t know whether it would play the Detroit Red Wings or the Dallas Stars in the upcoming Western Conference semifinals.
The organization was making provisional plans for either scenario — playing Game 1 at Detroit on Thursday night or at Dallas on Saturday — as all concerned awaited the result of Tuesday night’s Game 7 between the Calgary Flames and the San Jose Sharks.
The Avs knew this much when they left the practice rink: Under the NHL’s reseeding procedure, if San Jose won that game at home to advance, Colorado would draw Detroit; and if Calgary won to move on, the Avalanche would face Dallas.
The Stars can’t open until Saturday because of a Van Halen concert on Thursday in Dallas and a Mavericks playoff game on Friday.
Colorado was 0-4 against Detroit this season, getting shut out three times and scoring a grand total of two goals in the four games. The last meeting came on Feb. 18, a week before the Avalanche re-signed Peter Forsberg and eight days before it acquired Adam Foote and Ruslan Salei at the trading deadline.
The Avs split four games with the Stars, including the back-to-back meetings in early March that came after the deadline. Forsberg didn’t play in the second of the two, a Dallas win on home ice.
Avalanche captain Joe Sakic Tuesday said this is a different team than at least the one that went winless against the Wings this season.
“Just look at the personnel, so yeah, it’s different, very different,” Sakic said at Family Sports Center. “It’s been different since February. . . I think we’re playing well right now. We had a good series against Minnesota. Guys are playing hard and we’re confident about what we can do. We still have to go out and do it, though.”
After taking Monday off, Forsberg not only practiced Tuesday, but stayed out long after the formal workout was over and was one of the last regulars off the ice. The time between games for Colorado would be four days if the Avalanche faces Detroit, and a full seven days if the opponent is Dallas.
“Like we say,” Forsberg said with a smile, “rest is a weapon. Rest is great. So it’s good. I never mind rest. But today, in practice, when you miss two days, it feels like you’ve never been out there before.”
Since his return, Forsberg, a center-by-trade, has been playing left wing, mostly on a line with Paul Stastny, but also some with Sakic. The Swede had one goal and four assists in the six games against Minnesota and was a plus-3, logging an average of 18:31 in ice time — a figure slightly raised because three games went to overtime.
“I think it’s great for me to play wing, to be honest,” he said. “Playing center, to come into the middle of the season and start playing center I think that might be a lot. I’m very happy to play the wing with both Joe and Stastny. I’m real comfortable there and I get to play with two great centermen, so I’m real happy to be there. And it’s definitely easier to play wing than play center.”
Because of the defensive responsibilities?
“Yeah,” he said, smiling. “I just look at Paul and say, ‘You skate. I’m not going back there.’ He goes with it. It’s a little harder with Joe, though. He’s got that age thing on me. So sometimes I have to backcheck.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
