avalanche 4, rangers 3, ot

Late tally caps rally

De Vries gets game-winner

By Terry Frei
Denver Post Sports Writer

Friday, January 31, 2003 - NEW YORK - In the third minute of overtime Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, Colorado Avalanche center Peter Forsberg muscled off the challenge of New York Rangers defenseman Joel Bouchard and, amazingly, retained control of the puck.

Meanwhile, Colorado defenseman Greg de Vries was trailing the play. Because Forsberg, who had a spectacular first-period goal to his credit, had other concerns than looking around, de Vries was heard and not seen.

"Devo came up perfectly," Forsberg said. "I didn't really see him, but he was yelling for the puck."

Blindly, Forsberg slid a pass back to de Vries, who then beat Rangers goalie Mike Dunham for the goal at 2:29 of overtime that gave the Avalanche a wild 4-3 victory in the final game before the all-star break for both teams.

It also was the first game for the Rangers since Wednesday's firing of coach Bryan Trottier and the Thursday morning decision to have general manager Glen Sather add coaching to his duties. The coaching change helped create a media feeding frenzy and circus atmosphere at the Garden - even without Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey in town. Sather's return to coaching after a nine-year hiatus ended with the Rangers settling for one point. The Avalanche took advantage of opponents' tendency to focus on Forsberg during the 4-on-4 overtimes in general.

"Actually, we talked about it before the OT," said de Vries, who doubled his season goal total with the one shot. "It seems like when Peter drives to the net, or any of the forwards drive to the net, it drags all four of their guys right to the net. It worked out perfectly. Peter drove to the net, drew them all down there, and it was pretty much wide open."

How wild was this one? The Avalanche blew a 2-0 lead, fell behind 3-2, then got Alex Tanguay's second goal of the game - and his fourth on the three-game road trip - with 4:18 remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime. Forsberg was the dominant player on the ice, with his first- period goal and two assists. The goal, at 5:30 of the first period, came when he befuddled Dunham with a change of direction and stop-and-go moves behind the goal line, then ended up sneaking out to stuff the puck inside the post.

Goalie David Aebischer had a bizarre but largely praiseworthy night, making 38 saves in his first Madison Square Garden start, including 10 in the first seven minutes.

"Abby made the big saves early to keep us where we had to be," Colorado coach Tony Granato said.

Also, Aebischer made a clutch, game-extending save on Eric Lindros' point-blank shot early in overtime.

Aebischer has been the winning goaltender the past time two times he has been on the ice for Colorado overtime games, and that followed four overtime losses for the Swiss backup goalie.

"It comes in cycles," he said. "Now I'm lucky in overtime, and before I wasn't."

But he also allowed a shaky goal with only seven seconds left in the second period, on a tough-angle shot from Matthew Barnaby, to get the Rangers within 2-1 and give them a little life.

Then, at 9:54 of the third period, Adam Foote drew a double-minor when his high-stick to Barnaby's nose drew blood. Petr Nedved beat Aebischer from the right-wing circle to tie the score at 11:58, four seconds after Foote's first penalty ended. Less than two minutes later, Bobby Holik's shot from the slot slid off the right post and in to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead at 12:26.

Then Tanguay, who started the trip without a goal in 10 games, pulled the Avalanche back into the tie.

"I'm starting to feel a little more confident," Tanguay said. "I know what I have to do to help this team, and if I keep working hard, I hope I'll get the bounces I did tonight."