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DENVER (AP) -- Peter Forsberg added to Phoenix's mounting frustration.
Forsberg had an assist in his first game back from a shoulder injury, and the Colorado Avalanche took control of their first-round playoff series with a 3-1 victory over the Coyotes on Saturday.
|  | | Chris Drury exchanges high-fives at the Colorado bench after scoring the first goal. |
The game ended with a flurry of penalties as Phoenix vented their frustration by taking shots at Colorado goalie Patrick Roy and defenseman Adam Foote.
"Why not try to get somebody?" said Phoenix forward Keith Tkachuk, who was called for roughing in the final seconds. "Yeah it's frustration. Yeah we lost. We've got a bunch of sore losers on this team. I like that. Why not? It's old time hockey right there."
Chris Drury, Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk all scored power-play goals for the Avalanche, who took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference series. Game 3 is Monday at Phoenix.
"We know they're going to battle. They showed us at the end that they're not going to give up," Roy said. "We have to expect to see them working extremely hard in their own building and try to get back in the series."
As they did in Game 1, the Coyotes hurt themselves with penalties. Colorado scored twice with a two-man advantage and went 3-for-7 on power-play chances. The Avalanche are 5-for-16 on the power play in the series.
"We tried the whole game to be more physical. It was the power play again that killed us," Phoenix's Jeremy Roenick said. "At even strength we beat them 1-0. With special teams, they beat us. We have to stay out of the penalty box, and we have to get some breaks in the calls."
Forsberg, who separated his right shoulder eight days ago, assisted on Hejduk's goal midway through the second period, slipping a crossing pass through the legs of Phoenix defenseman Teppo Numminen.
Hejduk had no problem flipping the puck past goalie Sean Burke to give Colorado a 3-1 lead.
"The first couple of shifts, yes, they were trying to hit me every time," Forsberg said. "I knew after the first hit, it felt great and I knew there was not going to be any problems."
Benoit Hogue scored the only goal for the Coyotes, beating Roy 5:42 into the second on a quick, one-handed shot with Foote shadowing him just outside the crease.
Burke kept Phoenix in the game throughout the third, thwarting several Colorado scoring chances, but the Coyotes' offense could not solve Roy, who had 25 saves and constantly roamed outside the crease to play the puck.
Roy also exchanged slashes with Roenick in the waning moments, rekindling a rivalry that started in 1996 when Roy said he couldn't hear Roenick's brash comments because his Stanley Cup rings were
plugging his ears.
"That is the competitor in him. He doesn't have to apologize for anything," Roenick said.
Keith Carney and Jon Klemm capped the unsightly finish with a short fight, setting the stage for what should be a physical reunion in Arizona.
"It got a little ugly, but that's normal," Tanguay said. "They're going back home and they have a good team and they just wanted to show us we weren't going to get easy ones when we get to Phoenix."
The game started out as a replay of the opener as Colorado converted two power plays -- including a 5-on-3 -- in the first five minutes.
Drury skated untouched down the left side, crossed into the center and beat Burke on a backhand shot at 3:31, and the rookie Tanguay scored from in close 56 seconds later to make it 2-0.
"We want to assume some responsibility," Phoenix coach Bob Francis said. "We took some unnecessary penalties that resulted from high emotion and that is going to happen. Unfortunately three power-play goals were the difference in the game."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
RECAPS
Colorado 3
Phoenix 1
Detroit 8
Los Angeles 5
Pittsburgh 2
Washington 1
San Jose 4
St. Louis 2
Toronto 5
Ottawa 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Chris Drury skates in from the corner to beat Sean Burke.
avi: 587 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Alex Tanguay scores the power-play goal.
avi: 558 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Peter Forsberg threads the needle to Milan Hejduk for the goal.
avi: 799 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Benoit Hogue scores off the feed from Mikael Renberg.
avi: 623 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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