AVS' FORSBERG DIDN'T MISS A BEAT(ING).

Byline: TERRY FREI

Physical play is not just a temptation for Peter Forsberg.

It is a prerequisite.

The Colorado Avalanche forward is not like the pre-concussion-years Eric Lindros, who would take himself out of his game and hurt his team by taking undisciplined runs or overreacting to the inevitable aggressive attention paid him.

Forsberg's game involves sensing the contact coming and often coiling to deliver a hit of his own. Over the years, he has played with both a target and a number on his back. Opposing teams know he can be goaded into responding, and even luxuriates in it. He is more prone to be knocked of his game than the more lithe and elusive Joe Sakic, for example, which is why Forsberg's line more often has seen the opposition's top defensive pair over the years.

Yet Forsberg must respond, must be physical himself, to be effective. If he backs off that way too much, it de-energizes his game. So it wasn't a shock that on his first shift Thursday night, in his first game in nearly a year, he made a point of delivering a hit on Kings defenseman Mattias Norstrom along the boards.

He was getting right back on the horse.

``I was trying to get it going a little bit,'' he said with a laugh after the Avalanche's 4-3 victory over the Kings in Game 1 of their best-of-seven playoff series.

``Jumping right into the playoffs was tougher than I thought, though.''

Earlier in the day, after the morning skate, he said he understood that every team the Avalanche faces in the postseason ... whether it's only the Kings or a series of opponents ... will show no mercy to a spleenless Swede.

``Of course, you expect it,'' Forsberg said. ``It's the playoffs and the opposition is going to be playing physical. It doesn't matter if it's me or whoever it is.''

No, it does matter. It would matter even if Forsberg's medical file for the past year contained only the results of routine physicals. He is Peter Forsberg, and he will be reminded of that ... and his physical resiliency and his will are going to be tested.

Against the Kings, Forsberg played left wing on a line with Steve Reinprecht and Chris Drury. The playmaking creativity of three centers-by-trade on the same line was apparent. The peril is if they get too caught up in freelancing and forget positional responsibility. But Forsberg had two assists while appearing to be strong and unflinching. On the power play, he was up front with Sakic and Drury, with Rob Blake and Adam Foote on the points.

Colorado has the last change at home, of course, and the matchups most often worked out to be the Kings having the checking line of Eric Belanger, Ian Laperriere and Mikko Eloranta out against the Forsberg line. And Forsberg was, if not immediately amazing, at least reminiscent of the dangerous Swede.

His undeniable strength and his ability to carry the puck through traffic and obstacles can't be separated from that physical nature of his game. Forsberg can be covertly nasty with his stick and an elbow here or there. The erstwhile center (at least for the time being) not only belies the archaic ``soft Swede'' stereotype, he could be adopted as an honorary citizen of Mississauga, Ontario ... the home of Don Cherry, the passionate spokesman of the game's right wingers.

So if his return after all those bizarre twists and multiple surgeries involved a downgrade of his equal-and-opposite-reaction aggressiveness, then we would be watching a Swede wearing an Avalanche No. 21 sweater ... but not the real Peter Forsberg.

But think of the physical reasons for his absence. When you are off for months after feeling your anterior cruciate ligament tearing, the rehabilitation is torture. Once you're back, you might feel mistrustful of the knee for a time, but you don't have that nagging knowledge that you are missing an organ because of the game's toll. In the following months, the problems mounted, mostly involving his ankles and feet, but also touching on a diminution of desire.

The major test Thursday wasn't so much whether he immediately would be electric. More important, the issues were whether he would play the familiar Forsberg game; and if he wasn't quite as physical, whether that was the result of soon-to-disappear rustiness or a longer lingering modification of style.

``At the beginning, it's going to be a little hard to run around,'' Forsberg said. ``I'm going to save my energy for some other things. Other than that, I have to go out and play the same game I always have.''

He seemed true to his word Thursday night.

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Colorado's Peter Forsberg (21) was back to his old self Thursday, hitting and getting hit, as he was here by the Kings' Mikko Eloranta.

Andy Cross/Denver Post