ANOTHER SHUTOUT FOR ROY : COLORADO GOES UP 2-0 - ON THE ROAD COLORADO 3, DETROIT 0.

Byline: Harry Atkins Associated Press

There are times when Patrick Roy is so superb that his own teammates find themselves standing back in awe. This was one of those nights.

The Colorado goaltender continued to frustrate Detroit Tuesday night as the Avalanche defeated the Red Wings 3-0 to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

``It's great to see a big star come up big like that in a big game,'' said Mike Ricci, who assisted on two of the Colorado goals. ``Detroit's a great team. They had something like 35 shots. Patrick just came up big.''

After winning an NHL-record 62 games without being shut out during the season, the Red Wings now have been blanked in regulation in three of their last six playoff games. The loss was their fourth at home in the playoffs - this after they dropped only three at Joe Louis Arena during the entire regular season.

``It's a little frustrating,'' Detroit forward Dino Ciccarelli said. ``We've got to be able to play a game the way we did in the regular season. We played a patient game then, and we've got to again. We've got to wait for the opportunities. We can't be trying to force it.''

Roy has seven playoff shutouts, two this season. It was his 80th playoff victory, tying him with Ken Dryden for second place on the NHL's all-time list, eight behind Billy Smith.

``Detroit played a very good game,'' Roy said. ``I just think we played better. We came here planning to win two games, not planning to split. And now it's going to be a lot of fun, going back to Denver for Game 3. The crowd should be really pumped up.''

The best-of-seven series moves to Denver for Games 3 and 4, Thursday and Saturday.

Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, who didn't play after the second period in Detroit's 3-2 overtime loss in Sunday's Game 1, was scratched just before the game. Yzerman, whose injury is officially listed as a groin pull, appeared to be uncomfortable shooting during warmups.

The Red Wings also played the third period without all-star defenseman Paul Coffey, who was knocked out by a hard check in the second.

``Coffey's having back spasms again,'' Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. ``He had trouble with them earlier in the season, and it spasmed again during the game.''

Bowman said he didn't know when Yzerman would be fit to play.

``He's a lot better tonight than he was this morning,'' Bowman said. ``But still not enough.''

But the players refused to use injuries as an excuse for Detroit's surprising lack of offense.

``Everybody's mindset was that Stevie wasn't going to play,'' Ciccarelli said. ``It wasn't a big deal, because we've been without a lot of key guys all season. Blaming the loss of Stevie is just looking for excuses. We've got enough other guys to score. We've just got to find the net.''

Detroit outshot Colorado 35-20. But the Avalanche made the most of its opportunities. Joe Sakic, the leading scorer in the playoffs, Warren Rychel and Sandis Ozolinsh scored for the high-scoring Avalanche, which had 326 goals during the season, one more than Detroit.

The Red Wings, who are trying to win their first Stanley Cup since 1955, were swept in the Cup finals by the New Jersey Devils last year. They now find themselves in grave danger of extending the NHL's longest drought.

``This is about as good as we could hope for,'' Colorado coach Marc Crawford said.

Detroit was 3-1 against Colorado this season and 5-0 against Roy, including three games after he joined the Avalanche. The Red Wings averaged 5.41 goals against Roy this season.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Colorado's Peter Forsberg flattens Detroit's Bob Err ye in the first period of the Avalanche's Game 2 win in Detroit.

Associated Press