Colorado's Peter Forsberg has five points in six playoffs games this year. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)To refer to the Colorado Avalanche as "banged up" is a bit of an understatement.
Colorado dropped a 4-3 decision to the Red Wings in Detroit Thursday in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal, and the Avalanche received more bad news on the injury front when they learned that forward Wojtek Wolski will not play in Game 2 Saturday (2 p.m. ET).
Wolski, who was forced to leave Game 1 after a collision with Detroit centre Johan Franzen, will likely miss the remainder of the second-round series because of an upper-body injury.
The loss of Wolski is a big blow for the Avalanche, as the Poland-born left-winger scored two goals and added three assists in seven playoff games for Colorado this season.
Even more worrisome for the Avalanche is the fate of veteran forward Peter Forsberg. The Swedish sniper, who has one goal and four assists in six games during the playoffs, was scratched from the series opener with a nagging groin injury, and has been listed as questionable for Game 2.
"It's bad not being able to play, but we'll see (Saturday). There's no decision made right now and I'll just have to take it day to day," Forsberg said.
Forsberg, who rarely skates on game days in the morning, did so Thursday and pulled the groin, forcing him to sit out the series opener later that evening.
"I can't be upset. Sometimes you have to skate. Of course, you're not happy when it happens like that," he said. "I've just got to get it healed up as soon as I possibly can. But it was definitely not a good situation yesterday. Of course, you feel bad."
At least the news isn't all that bad for Colorado. Starting goalie Jose Theodore was pulled from Game 1 early in the second period and sent back to the team's hotel because he was sick.
Theodore, the star of Colorado's opening-round win over the Minnesota Wild, said Friday he was feeling much better after practising with his teammates and is expected to play Saturday.
As for the Red Wings, they will welcome Brad Stuart back after the defenceman missed the first game of the series to be with his wife and new son in San Jose.
Detroit has won its last three post-season games and hasn't lost on home ice yet in the playoffs (sporting a 4-0 record), but coach Mike Babcock wants a more consistent effort from his players in Game 2, saying he felt they were outplayed for large portions of the game on Thursday.
Babcock was pleased with the performance of Mikael Samuelsson-Valtteri Filppula-Johan Franzen line, and will be looking for more production out of that trio as the series progresses.
"We said last round that if that line could get going for us, we would be a pretty good team," Babcock said.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series goes next Tuesday in Denver.
With files from Associated Press
