Forsberg Puts One Over on Red Wings

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

The native of Sweden scored 6:24 into overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 victory over Detroit on Monday night and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Forsberg, who also had an assist, is the leading scorer in the playoffs with 27 points despite missing the regular season after having four foot surgeries and his spleen removed in the last 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.”

Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said the officials missed an offsides call on the game-winning 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.”

Forsberg said he didn’t know if teammate Brian Willsie was offsides, but he did know that he didn’t expect to have so much room on the play that turned into his third career overtime playoff goal.

“You don’t usually get breakaways in OT,” said Forsberg, who has nine goals and 18 assists in the playoffs. “I was a little nervous, but I got it done.”

The defending Stanley Cup champions can eliminate the Red Wings and move a step closer to repeating with a victory in Game 6 Wednesday night in Denver.

“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--the sixth in their postseason rivalry since 1996--and the road team won for the sixth time.

“It must just be coincidence,” Colorado’s Joe Sakic said.

Colorado, which was outshot, 4-1, in the overtime, became the first team in the series to win consecutive games.

Patrick Roy made 26 saves for Colorado and Dominik Hasek turned away 27 shots for Detroit.