(My Sportsbook) - The Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche will renew hostilities tonight, as they meet in the Motor City for Game 1 of the best-of- seven Western Conference semifinals at Joe Louis Arena.

The Avalanche and Red Wings are two of the NHL's most successful franchises in recent history, as they combined to win five Stanley Cup titles from 1996-2002. The teams met in the postseason five times during that stretch.

However, this is the first time the clubs are facing off in the postseason since Detroit beat Colorado in seven games during the 2002 Western Conference finals. That was also the last time the Avs made it past the second round of the playoffs.

All told, Colorado has won three of the five all-time playoff series with the Red Wings.

Detroit needed to make a goaltending switch to defeat eighth-seeded Nashville in six games during this year's opening round. Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock replaced the struggling Dominik Hasek after the series was tied at 2-2 following Game 4 and watched as Chris Osgood shut down the Predators in Games 5 and 6.

The 43-year-old Hasek is one of the best goaltenders in NHL history and has six Vezinas (best goaltender), two Hart Trophies (league MVP) and a Stanley Cup title to prove it. However, he was not good against Nashville, going 2-2 with a 2.91 goals against average and .888 save percentage.

Meanwhile, Osgood won both of his starts and stopped 53-of-54 shots in three games of action overall in the series. He also posted a shutout in the series- clinching Game 6 victory and had a 0.39 GAA and .981 save percentage in the first round.

Babcock has decided to stick with Osgood in the second round, which isn't surprising since it was never clear during the regular season who the team's No. 1 goaltender was. Osgood played in 43 games and made the All-Star team, while Hasek saw action in 41 outings.

Pavel Datsyuk had 97 points (31 goals, 66 assists) during the regular season and linemate Henrik Zetterberg added 43 goals and 92 points. Both players had solid but not spectacular first rounds against Nashville, with Datsyuk posting three goals and two assists, while Zetterberg had two tallies and two helpers.

All told, the Red Wings had six players with four points or more in the opening round, including forwards Jiri Hudler (2g, 3a) and Johan Franzen (2g, 2a).

The Avalanche earned a trip to the second round this year by defeating Minnesota in six games.

Turning in a spectacular first-round series for the Avalanche was goaltender Jose Theodore, who looked like the player who won the Hart and Vezina for Montreal in 2001-02. Theodore stopped 188-of-200 shots in the series against the Wild while posting a 1.88 GAA and .940 save percentage.

The Avalanche were led on offense in the series by familiar faces in team captain Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, who were both members of Colorado's championship teams in 1996 and 2001.

Sakic, in his 19th year with the Quebec/Colorado franchise, had just 40 points (13g, 27a) during this year's regular season, but that was due to injuries that allowed him to play in just 44 games. Sakic had a strong playoff series against the Wild, notching two goals and four assists to lead the Avs with six points.

Sakic is the NHL's active leader in playoff scoring with 184 points (84g, 100a) in 168 postseason contests.

While Sakic has been a mainstay with the franchise, the Avalanche also saw the return of Peter Forsberg this season. Forsberg was a member of Colorado's two Stanley Cup championship teams, but hadn't played with the Avalanche since the 2003-04 season. After stints in Philadelphia and Nashville, Forsberg sat out the beginning of this year before signing a free-agent deal with the Avs in late February.

The 34-year-old Forsberg had one goal and 13 assists in nine regular-season games with Colorado this year, and added five points (1g, 4a) in the first round against Minnesota.

Paul Stastny, the son of legendary Quebec Nordiques sniper Peter Stastny, was Colorado's leading scorer during the regular season with 71 points (24g, 47a), but managed just one goal against the Wild in his first career playoff series.

The Red Wings were the best home team in this year's regular season, posting a 29-9-3 record at the Joe. Meanwhile, Colorado struggled on the road with a 17-19-5 mark.

Game 2 of this series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Detroit.