Avs, Stars Both in Denial About Series

Colorado Avalanche's Joe Sakic (19) battles for the puck with Dallas Stars goalie Marty Turco (35) in the first period of their NHL playoff hockey game in Dallas, Monday, April 24, 2006. The Avalanche won 5-4. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (Lm Otero - AP)

DENVER -- Everybody's fooling themselves in the Dallas-Colorado playoff series.

As the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinals shifted to the Rocky Mountains, neither team seemed to want to face the fact that the seventh-seeded Avalanche had built a surprising 2-0 lead over the second-seeded Stars.

The Avs didn't want to get caught up in their startling success and the seasoned Stars didn't want to get bogged down in their dismaying deficit heading into Game 3 Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.

"It's a swing game for both us," Avs forward Andrew Brunette said. "It's as much desperation for us as it is for them. It is a scary lead, 2-0, because it is a momentum shift. We have to treat it like it is 1-1 and try to dictate the flow."

On Tuesday, both clubs preferred to focus on the second period in Dallas a night earlier, when the Stars overcame a three-goal deficit to take a 4-3 lead that stood until Brett Clark's short-handed goal with 2:04 remaining sent the game into overtime, when Colorado won on Joe Sakic's tip-in.

"We got a lot of confidence from last night," said Jere Lehtinen, who scored two of the Stars' goals. "We didn't play that good in the first game, then we were down 3-0 so fast. In the second period, we needed to prove we were better than that."

They sure made an impression on the Avs, who opened the series with a 5-2 win at American Airlines Arena.

"Dallas has too many great leaders, great veterans to let it get to 3-0," Avs forward Ian Laperriere said. "They will come hard, and it is the playoffs. You can't get comfortable."

That was the message from Colorado coach Joel Quenneville, too.

"We can't accept any satisfaction of starting the series up" 2-0, he said.

Not with the chutzpah Dallas showed Monday night.

"I felt a lot better about last night," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "The second period was probably the best period we've played in probably the last three months. We didn't have a legitimate turnover in the second period.