from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy back in preseason said without any hesitation that he didn’t want his team to just grow into a contender but also to play a style of game that entertains its fans.

God bless him. It’s a mantra that clearly bucks the trend. But his team regressing so dramatically this season and missing the playoffs certainly didn’t help popularize his approach.

The Cup finals matchup absolutely can be not so much a sport-saving moment -- let’s not overstate things -- but perhaps a sport-healing series at least.

We are going the wrong direction as a sport. Five more games like Saturday night and the Bolts and Blackhawks will perhaps change some minds in a copycat league.

"To me, it's a speed sport," began Cooper on Sunday when I asked him for his organic philosophy on how he believes the game should be played. "These guys are phenomenal athletes. Ultimately, I coach games to win games. I guess there's different ways to do that. But we believe these guys have these abilities, why not take advantage of them?

"I'm a big believer in literally playing the whole game skating forwards. I think you can do that. So, if you can have it as much as you can, it's really tough for the other team to score."

As Mike Babcock and Team Canada proved in their keep-away clinic at the Sochi Olympics a year and a half ago, even low-scoring games can be incredibly entertaining if you’re doing it with all-world skill controlling the game.

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