DET vs COL

Denver – It should be played on a loop at hockey camps all this summer. Any two hockey players out there who want to be in the NHL some day should get the tape of the Detroit Red Wings' fourth goal in Game 3 on Monday against the Colorado Avalanche.

They should put the tape in the machine, watch and learn. What happened on the tape won the Red Wings another game against the Avs, putting them up 3-0 in the Western Conference semifinals.

It was a highly unique goal, scored by Red Wings sensation Henrik Zetterberg. On the power play, Zetterberg started off near the blue line and fed a pass to Pavel Datsyuk along the boards. Zetterberg moved behind the net and accepted another pass from Datsyuk, then quickly gave it back.

Then, Zetterberg moved to the other side of the net and accepted another, longer pass from Datsyuk in the left corner.

This time, Zetterberg passed the puck into the net behind Jose Theodore. 4-2 Wings at that point, and Detroit holds on to take the game 4-3.

"It was an all-world goal," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville admitted.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg are to Adam Foote and Kurt Sauer the way Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic used to be to Paul Coffey and Slava Fetisov, way back in a 1996 playoff series.

Forsberg and Sakic were on the ice Tuesday, but Datsyuk and Zetterberg clearly are the new, young, anointed ones.

Some day, age and injury will catch up to them too, but for now, let the good times roll.

"They're elite, elite players going into the primes of their careers. They play with great will and determination," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Avs banged up

It wouldn't be a day without a new injury to report, so here is today's for the Avalanche: Paul Stastny, knee.

The team's leading regular-season scorer got in a tangle with Datsyuk and Adam Foote in the first period, trying to help out in their scrum along the boards. All it got Stastny was the injury, and the Avs don't know how long he'll be out.

Then again, the Avs don't know if they'll have any more than one game to play the rest of the season.

Forsberg Furious

Forsberg rarely criticizes the officials after a game, but he did tonight.

After being whistled for six minutes in penalties in the second period, including a double minor for high-sticking Mikael Samuelsson, Forsberg got no call when he was clearly tripped off the rush by Detroit's Johan Franzen in the third period of a 4-3 game, with Colorado already on the power play.

"I don't understand that," Forsberg said. "They called so many in the second period, and then they decide not to call that one."

Forsberg played, but with his left groin area heavily wrapped. He didn't play for the last few minutes of the first period, and everybody thought he was done for the night.

But the Swede superstar basically told his training staff "screw it" and decided to play on.