Avalanche look for Devils date

Blues goalie Roman Turek has been a revelation

By BBC Sport Online's Kevin Asseo

Only the cream of the crop remains in the 2001 NHL play-offs. Of the 16 teams that began postseason play one month ago, four are still standing to fight for the Stanley Cup, ice hockey's ultimate prize.

New Jersey will face Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference Finals, and Colorado will play St. Louis in the Western Conference Finals.

The winners of those two best-of-seven series will meet to decide the NHL champion.

Only one of the four teams remaining has had an easy time of it in the play-offs. The St. Louis Blues cruised past the San Jose Sharks in the first round before destroying the Dallas Stars in a four-game sweep in round two.

Forsberg's absence will be a major blow for Colorado

The Blues' goaltender, Roman Turek, who was heavily criticised last year after a poor play-off performance, has more than made up for it with his play through the first two rounds.

Turek leads all play-off goalies with a 1.60 goals against average and was the key to St. Louis shutting down Dallas's high-powered offence.

The Blues' next opponents, the Colorado Avalanche, had a difficult time in their second round series. They needed all seven games to defeat the surprising Los Angeles Kings and got the worst news possible at the conclusion of the series.

Colorado's offensive star, Peter Forsberg, tied for the most points scored in the play-offs so far, ruptured his spleen in game seven and will miss the remainder of season.

In a telling example of the legendary toughness of NHL players, Forsberg is not sure how or when the injury happened during the game. He only went to the hospital later that evening after a dinner out with teammates.

Lemieux's return has been a huge hit with the fans

Forsberg's absence will put the pressure squarely on Colorado's defence.

Fortunately for the Avalanche, that defence should be strong enough to carry them past the Blues and into the final round.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have become the team everyone wants to see. Thanks to the return of the best player in the world, Mario Lemieux, the Penguins are the fan's choice to win the championship.

Indeed Lemieux, who returned to Pittsburgh this year after a three-year absence from the sport, has been nothing short of spectacular and is tied with Forsberg for the playoff points lead with a total of 14.

He led the Penguins to a thrilling come-from-behind win over Buffalo in the second round, which included overtime wins in games six and seven.

New Jersey's play-off king Martin Brodeur

The New Jersey Devils await Pittsburgh in the next round, after the Devils seven-game defeat of Toronto in round two.

As always, the Devils are led by veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur, who always saves his best for the big games. The deeper New Jersey goes in the play-offs, the better Brodeur becomes.

The Devils are looking to defend the championship they won last year and will depend on Brodeur and their usual cast of rugged role players to do it.

Pittsburgh are fun to watch, but they may have spent a bit too much energy getting by Buffalo. New Jersey should get a chance to defend their crown against Colorado in the Stanley Cup finals.

New Jersey and Colorado owned the two best records in ice hockey this year and their meeting in Stanley Cup finals would make for a superb series.