The Colorado Avalanche will be without high-scoring Peter Forsberg and Stephane Yelle for the second straight game when their playoff series with Edmonton resumes Sunday. That's not entirely good news for the Oilers.
Forsberg, who has 16 points in nine games, is out of action with a concussion after slamming into the ice headfirst in Game 3. Yelle had athroscopic surgery Saturday on his left knee to repair torn cartilage, and is expected to miss at least two weeks."Peter was evaluated again today," Avalanche coach Marc Crawford said. "The headaches are subsiding. But we still haven't been given clearance for him to play. At this rate, I think it's very encouraging, and he should be fully recovered probably by Monday."
With those two missing, Crawford juggled his lineup in Game 4, and many of his moves worked as Colorado beat Edmonton 3-2 in overtime to take a 3-1 series lead.
Game 5 is today in Denver, where the Avalanche are 5-0 in the playoffs, outscoring opponents 25-3.
"We called upon guys to do different things," Crawford said Saturday. "We made some changes in our penalty kill, and we had to mix up some things on our power play. But our special teams played well. We executed and did what we normally do on both special teams."
Game 5: Buffalo vs. Philadelphia
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo Sabres don't have to worry about offering any more excuses for goalie Dominik Hasek. The performance of backup Steve Shields is making that unnecessary.
First it was Hasek's knee, which apparently was sprained during Game 3 against Ottawa in the first round. Then the troubled goalie was suspended for three games after ambushing a reporter who questioned the injury and whether Hasek was bothered by playoff pressure.
For Game 4 against the Philadelphia Flyers, Hasek was cleared to play but felt a twinge in the pregame skate and was scratched. At this point, nobody knows if he'll return this season.
The Sabres are just happy they have Shields, who made 39 saves in Buffalo's 5-4 overtime victory in Game 4 and will start Game 5 on Sunday at Marine Midland Arena.
"I think Steve deserves to play," Sabres forward Matthew Barnaby said. "I think we owe it to him now. I thought we owed it to him all along."
Shields, who will start against the Flyers in Game 5 on Sunday, has a 4-5 record and a 2.46 goals against average and .929 save percentage in the postseason since replacing Hasek. He is the reason Buffalo wasn't knocked out of the playoffs long ago.
Philadelphia has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Game 5: Rangers vs. Devils
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Finally a video review went in the favor of the New Jersey Devils, and this time the New York Rangers were left to shake their heads in disbelief.
This NHL review didn't get the Devils a goal, but at least it kept forward John MacLean in the lineup for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday when they face elimination against the Rangers.
The Devils' leading scorer in the playoffs, MacLean got a reprieve for the game when the league didn't suspend him for a slash late in Game 4 on Thursday that broke the left arm of Rangers' forward Niklas Sundstrom.
No penalty was called on the play, and the league's failure to suspend MacLean left Rangers coach Colin Campbell and team president Neil Smith incredulous.
Sundstrom had six screws and a plate inserted in his arm during a 90-minute surgery on Saturday.
The incident is the second Burke has reviewed in the best-of-7 series, which the Rangers now lead 3-1 after winning the last three games. He also decided not to suspend New York center Mark Messier for a crosscheck to the face of Doug Gilmour in Game 2, another play where no penalty was called.