Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Johan Franzen recorded his second playoff hat trick this season as the Detroit Red Wings finished off a sweep of the Colorado Avalanche with a dominant 8-2 win in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal at Pepsi Center.

"We wanted to spend as much time in the offensive zone as possible," Franzen noted of the blitz. "This is how we want to play every game."

Franzen's trifecta gave him a league-best 11 goals for the Red Wings, who advanced to the conference finals for the second time in as many seasons and await the winner of the Stars-Sharks semifinal. Dallas holds a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 slated for Friday in San Jose.

Franzen, who scored three times in Game 2, had nine goals in the series, setting a franchise and NHL record for goals in a four-game set. It matched the entire output for the Avalanche in the series.

Henrik Zetterberg picked up two goals and two assists for Detroit, which had not recorded a postseason sweep since a four-game triumph over the Los Angeles Kings in a 2000 Western quarterfinal. Mikael Samuelsson also scored twice, Tomas Holmstrom once and Pavel Datsyuk added three assists.

Chris Osgood made 29 saves for his sixth win.

Tyler Arnason and John-Michael Liles scored, while Joe Sakic picked up a pair of assists for the Avalanche, who were swept in a playoff series for just the second time since coming to Denver in 1995.

"It's just something you can't control," said a dejected Liles. "It's a tough loss. Just nothing else to say. They're a very good team and they definitely beat us. This is so hard to swallow."

Colorado last suffered a four-game sweep to Anaheim in a 2006 Western semifinal tussle, but unlike two years ago, this club was nowhere near full strength for the current set. The Avs did not have the services of forwards Peter Forsberg, Ryan Smyth, or Paul Stastny on Thursday, and had been without forward Wojtek Wolski since Game 1.

Starting goaltender Jose Theodore surrendered three goals on 15 shots in the first period. Backup Peter Budaj finished the game by allowing five goals on 25 shots.

Detroit effectively wrapped up the game early in the second period.

After Avs forward Ben Guite was sent off on a delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass, Zetterberg blasted a one-timer through a screen at the 2:15 mark for a 4-1 Red Wing lead.

Zetterberg struck again exactly 3 1/2 minutes later, on a pretty goal which saw the Swede poke a backhander past Budaj from the low slot while facing the opposite direction.

The rout was on as Franzen netted a short-handed goal with 8:23 left in the second, then was credited with a power-play tally with 2:45 to go for a 7-1 game.

Samuelsson batted home a centering feed from Jiri Hudler 8:02 into the third, then Liles finally countered with 9:34 to play in regulation with a 5-on-3 man-advantage score that restored a bit of Colorado pride in the crushing defeat.

"We said we really wanted to concentrate on what we could do," said veteran Detroit forward Kris Draper. "We knew they had injuries, but we still played hard and were rewarded. We wanted to end this series at the first crack."

Samuelsson's right-wing drive 4:33 into the contest trickled through Theodore and put the visitors ahead, but Arnason buried a pass from Andrew Brunette at 6:51 for the tying goal on the power play.

Detroit took a 2-1 advantage when Zetterberg rolled down the left wing and dished across to Holmstrom for a one-timer with 1:26 to play in the first period.

Only 47 seconds later, Valtteri Filppula worked a give-and-go with Franzen on an odd-man break, with the defenseman chipping across to the young forward for his ninth goal of the postseason and a 3-1 Wings edge.

"If we could say anything good, it was tied 1-1 in the first, and if we do not allow those two goals at the end, we could have made a game out of it," noted Brunette.