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>From todays Rocky Mountain News...

Showdown seeds sown

Devil-may-care Avs unfazed by comments of New Jersey coach

By Rick Sadowski, News Staff Writer

Colorado Avalanche players don't put much stock in their regular-season performances against the New Jersey Devils, the team they'll be facing in the Stanley Cup Finals. 
Nor are they losing sleep over comments made by Devils coach Larry Robinson, who questioned whether the Avalanche is even the best the West has to offer. 

"No, not at all," Avalanche defenseman Ray Bourque said Wednesday. "I don't put very much into that. All we have to concern ourselves with is how we have to play. I think everybody in this room believes that we can get this done. We've really worked hard and accomplished a lot so far, but to finish it off we have to win this series." 

The best-of-seven series opens Saturday night at the Pepsi Center with the NHL's top two seeds pitted against each other for the first time since 1989, when Calgary defeated Montreal. 

The Avalanche finished regular-season play with 118 points to capture the Presidents' Trophy and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, while the defending Cup champion Devils amassed 111 points to finish first in the Eastern Conference. 

But Robinson didn't seem all that impressed after the Avalanche whipped St. Louis in five games in the conference finals. 

"They beat St. Louis, but I don't know if they're that much of a better team than St. Louis is," Robinson told reporters Tuesday night after the Devils eliminated Pittsburgh in five games in the Eastern finals. "What happened with St. Louis was they took a lot of needless penalties. They were very undisciplined, and I don't think they got the goaltending they needed to win in the playoffs. That's the bottom line. 

"You can have the greatest team, but if you're not getting the big save at the right time, it doesn't matter. Not always the beat teams win. It's the teams that are playing at their best." 

Roman Turek was so shaky in goal for the Blues that coach Joel Quenneville used rookie Brent Johnson in the decisive fifth game. 

The Devils hammered the Avalanche in two regular-season meetings this year, and they've fashioned a 10-game unbeaten streak (7-0-3) against the Colorado/Quebec Nordiques franchise at the Meadowlands since Dec. 9, 1993. 

"The first one in there (this season) was one of our worst games all year," Bourque said of the 6-1 loss on Dec. 5, when the Devils outshot the Avalanche 33-19. 

The Avalanche outshot the Devils 37-25 in the 6-3 home loss on March 13 but gave up three power-play goals. 

"The second one, we just kind of played into their hands," Bourque said. "They're a very good team that you really have to be aware of what you're doing with the puck and where you put the puck. If you turn it over against a team like that, they're really a good transition team, and that's what happened. 

"I think we realize and recognize what type of team it is. It's a great hockey club. We'll have to be at our best and I think we will be." 

Avalanche center Chris Drury shrugged when asked about the Avalanche's past difficulties with New Jersey. 

"I think we're a different team," he said. "It's playoffs and I think we're playing better now than we did all year. I don't think it means too much." 

Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote, who held Blues power forward Keith Tkachuk without a goal in the conference finals, said the Devils are dangerous because they have so much depth. 

"But we like our 'D' and we feel that we have a lot of depth, too," he said. "They've had some tough series, too. They had a tough series with Toronto, and Carolina gave them a hard time. I didn't watch a lot of the Pittsburgh series, but I know we don't play even close to how Pittsburgh plays. (The Penguins) are a spread-out team and we're more of a closer-grouped team the way we play with five-man units. 

"I know people are going to try to see who's got the advantage or whatever, but we can't worry about that. We're going to study New Jersey and know what they're going to do. I don't think you can look at the regular season. We never have and we're not going to start now." 

Contact Rick Sadowski at (303) 892-2587 or sports@RockyMountainNews.com.