Patrick Roy Ties Billy Smith with 88 Playoff Victories
April 19, 1997 - Mr. Smith goes to oblivion. Courtesy of Mr. Roy. For nearly 10 years, Billy
Smith laid claim to having the most NHL playoff victories. Not anymore. Patrick Roy put
his name next to Smith's in the record books Friday night, leading the Colorado Avalanche
to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Colorado's solid defensive play gave the Avalanche
a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal.
Roy's victory was the 88th of
his postseason career, tying Smith's all-time NHL record. It doesn't figure to be long before
Roy holds the record exclusively, either. But if you want to know how Roy feels about the
accomplishment, you'll have to use your imagination. Surprisingly, Roy wasn't talking after
the game, beyond a perfunctory TV interview. "It's fun to talk about, but that's not the important
thing," Roy said. "It's winning the game. Hopefully, when it's all over I'll have a lot more wins
than Billy Smith." Others were interested in talking about Roy's record night. "He was real sharp
in the third period, when we needed him," Avalanche coach Marc Crawford said. "They had some
great chances toward the end, but he looked big in the net." Roy didn't have to be spectacular,
but he stood up to a much tougher Blackhawks team than the one that showed up in Game 1. Roy
finished with 24 saves for his seventh straight playoff victory. For those thinking they were
in a time warp shortly after taking their seats for the game, it only seemed like it. Although
the game as a whole was much different than the first of the series, there were some
striking similarities. Just like the first game, Mike Keane and Sandis Ozolinsh scored the
first two Avalanche goals, and Claude Lemieux scored the last one. In between, though,
the script wildly diverged from Game 1. There were no prolonged melees filled with trash-talking,
and there were 18 penalty minutes compared to 74 the first time around. "Both teams battled
very hard. That's a very proud team over there, and they battled very hard," Keane said.
"Anybody who disrespects that team is sadly mistaken. They have players who know how to win,
so we had to be ready to play." At 3:53, Keane took a loose puck at the blue line after Peter
Forsberg kept it in the Chicago zone and fired a wrist shot past a screened Jeff Hackett to make
it 1-0. "The puck's just going in for me right now," Keane said.
As if on cue, Ozolinsh made it
2-0 at the 5:06 mark. After taking a hard hip check from Chicago's Eric Weinrich, Ozolinsh
seemed to get mad, and used the adrenaline to his advantage. After the hit, Ozolinsh
took a pass from Joe Sakic and snapped a wrister from between the circles past Hackett. It looked
like another runaway, but that's when the script diverged from Game 1. Chicago played much better
after Ozolinsh's goal, and cut the lead in half on James Black's goal at 17:53. Chicago played on an
even keel with Colorado in the second period, but got nothing past Roy. The Avs, on the other
hand, got the only goal. And it was a beauty. Keith Jones took a lead pass from Jon Klemm, circled
the Blackhawks net and fed a gorgeous backhand wraparound pass to a cutting Lemieux. Lemieux
tapped the pass into the net to make it 3-1 at 7:30. "It was a great play. I saw "Jonesy' go
behind the net and I thought that if I could get open he could throw it back out front and I
could get a good shot," said Lemieux, who was paired on a line
with Jones and Sakic with two
games remaining in the regular season. Jones said, "I think on a play like that, you know the
pressure is going to be coming toward the net. With a guy like (Lemieux) on your line, you
know he's probably going to be there. Lucky enough, he was there and he made a great shot."
Roy held the fort the rest of the way. He was tested a couple of times in the final minutes,
but looked sharp turning all 11 Chicago shots away in the period. Colorado's defense gave him
plenty of help getting the landmark win. Veterans Alexei Gusarov and Sylvain Lefebvre were
outstanding, and the other four defensemen were solid, too. The Avs also killed all five
Chicago power plays, leaving Chicago zero for 10 in the two games. "We came out and
played better than the last game - that wouldn't be hard," Chicago captain Chris Chelios
said. "The bottom line is, when we get opportunities, we're have to score on them."
By Adrian Dater
Denver Post Sports Writer
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