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Forsberg goal puts Colorado out front

DETROIT -- Peter Forsberg once again showed why he might be the best hockey player in the world.

The Swede scored 6:24 into overtime Monday to give Colorado a 2-1 win over Detroit and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final.

Forsberg, who also had an assist, is the leading scorer in the playoffs with 27 points. He missed the regular season after having four foot surgeries and his spleen removed in the past year.

"It's just unbelievable," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "Even after missing the whole year, he continues to rise up to challenges and pressure. He's the full package as a player."

On the winning goal, Darius Kasparaitis sent a long pass into the offensive zone to Brian Willsie, who centered to Forsberg. Forsberg was one-on-one with Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek and sent a wrist shot off Hasek's right shoulder and into the net for his ninth goal of the postseason.

Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said the officials missed an offsides call on Willsie on the goal, which was scored on a breakaway as the Red Wings got caught on a line change.

"It was a quick play, a hard call," Bowman said. "You're not going to cry over a call like that."

The Avalanche can eliminate the Red Wings and move a step closer to defending its title with a win Wednesday at home in Game6.

"We have to play smarter," said Detroit's Steve Yzerman, who tied the score early in the third period. "We have to play our positions. We can't go running all over the ice."

Colorado and Detroit played their third overtime game of the series and sixth in their postseason rivalry since 1996. The road team has won each time.

"It must just be coincidence," Colorado's Joe Sakic said.

Colorado, outshot 4-1 in overtime, also became the first team in the series with consecutive wins.

Steven Reinprecht scored early in the first, continuing Colorado's streak of scoring first in each game of the series.

The Avalanche's ninth one-goal lead in the series was negated for the eighth time when Yzerman scored.

After that, not much happened until Colorado was penalized for having too many men on the ice, which gave the Red Wings a power play with 6:54 left. Patrick Roy made a few saves to ruin Detroit's hopes for a go-ahead goal.

Roy made 26 saves and Hasek 27.

After both teams started slowly in the first, Forsberg carried the puck along the left boards, spun, then fed a short pass to Reinprecht. Reinprecht, who scored two winners in the first round against Los Angeles, put in a wraparound past defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom 17:11 into the period.

Hasek stopped a scoring chance late in the second. The six-time Vezina Trophy winner sprawled out to stop Sakic's shot and rebound -- from his back -- with just over two minutes left in the second.

Less than a minute later, Yzerman's shot hit Roy's shoulder and fluttered onto the top of the net.

It took a few seconds for Yzerman's goal, Detroit's first on the power play since Game2, to be ruled a goal 54 seconds into the third.

Yzerman held the puck in the left corner, then skated toward Roy and flipped a shot that somehow squeezed behind his right knee and the post. After Yzerman pointed toward the back of the net, a referee signaled it was a goal.

Quinn back on skates

TORONTO -- Pat Quinn proved he was feeling fine by trading jokes and gruffly challenging reporters' questions on his first day back as the Maple Leafs' head coach after receiving treatment for heart problems.

"I'm sure you're all experts on intensity," Quinn said sarcastically when asked about underperforming Maple Leafs forward Robert Reichel.

Quinn, who spent most of last week in a Toronto hospital before being released Friday, missed Games 3 and 5 of the East final, which Carolina leads 3-2.

Joining his team on the ice for practice, Quinn said he'll be behind the bench for Game6 tonight in Toronto. And he added that he's cleared travel to Carolina if there is a Game7 on Thursday.

Quinn, who has never enjoyed long sessions with reporters, grew impatient when the press conference passed 15 minutes.

"You trying to make up for the three games I missed?" Quinn said with a smile. "I've been away too long."

It was clear Quinn, 59, who once referred to the lure of coaching as an aphrodisiac, was back in his element.

Complaining of shortness of breath and having trouble sleeping, Quinn was first diagnosed with the condition a day after the series opener in Raleigh, N.C. After coaching Game 2, Quinn's condition acted up on May 21, when he was taken to a hospital by ambulance.

STARS: Guy Carbonneau was named special assistant to general manager Doug Armstrong, two years after he left the organization for which he played five seasons. Carbonneau had been with the Canadiens for two years, most recently as an assistant coach.

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