Ducks Work That Old Blank Magic

Surviving seven punishing games against the bruising Calgary Flames in the first round was a feat in itself for the Mighty Ducks, but the high-flying Colorado Avalanche figured to present a new challenge in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So far, no challenge.

At the moment, the Ducks are making it look easy in the Western Conference semifinals. They put together another complete performance in a 3-0 Game 2 victory Sunday over the outclassed Avalanche in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Arrowhead Pond.

The Ducks will head to Denver for Games 3 and 4 with a two-games-to-none lead, and a feeling of invincibility may be taking hold in this postseason.

“I don’t think we’re surprised,” forward Joffrey Lupul said of the first two games. “We’re confident. When we go out for the game, we’re expecting to win.”

The Ducks certainly thought it would be tougher. Colorado ranked fifth in the NHL with 283 goals during the regular season. The Avalanche may have been hit hard by the new salary cap, but it still sends gifted offensive players such as Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk and Alex Tanguay onto the ice.

But that trio has been completely shut down by a stingy Duck defense and the continuing brilliance of Ilya Bryzgalov in goal. Bryzgalov’s third consecutive shutout tied a league rookie record set by Toronto’s Frank McCool in 1945.

In turning aside 22 shots, the 25-year-old Russian pushed his scoreless streak to 229 minutes 42 seconds dating to the first period of Game 6, when Calgary’s Stephane Yelle scored against him.

The streak is the fourth-longest in NHL postseason history, surpassing teammate Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s scoreless stretch of 217 minutes 54 seconds during the Ducks’ 2003 run to the Stanley Cup finals.

“It’s fun because we won the game,” Bryzgalov said. “It’s not a big deal for me. I don’t think about it.”

Since replacing Giguere in the second period of Game 5 against the Flames, Bryzgalov has stopped 92 of 93 shots. Because of his team’s work in front of him, few of them have had a high degree of difficulty, but he was called on to make some big saves Sunday.

Sakic was turned away in the opening minutes, and Tanguay was foiled on an odd-man rush. In the third period, Bryzgalov stopped Andrew Brunette on his doorstep and made a glove save on Tanguay, causing the speedy wing to turn away in astonishment at failing to bury the point-blank chance.

“We just hope he continues to do it,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “He made some big stops for our hockey club today. We just don’t want to rely on him too much like we did today.”

The Ducks supported him with another dominant effort in maintaining puck possession and winning battles along the boards. They held the Avalanche to six shots in the first period and four in the second; Colorado has been limited to single digits in three of the six periods in the series.

Ryan Getzlaf put the Ducks on the scoreboard with an expert redirection of Scott Niedermayer’s shot from the point for a power-play goal late in the first. In the second, Ruslan Salei scored his second goal of the playoffs after notching only one in the regular season.

Lupul later punched in his own rebound past Colorado goalie Jose Theodore after getting a brilliant no-look feed from rookie Dustin Penner.

“As the year has gone on, we’ve come together and we’ve got great chemistry right now,” Salei said. “Bryz is playing well. It seems like all the bounces are going to us now.”

The Avalanche players licked their wounds afterward and left with a new level of admiration for their opponent.

“It’s a hole, that’s for sure,” Colorado defenseman Rob Blake said. “It’s not the kind of hole you want to be in by any means.

“They understand what their game is. They’re smart. They don’t play with it in their zone at all. The puck is in and it’s out. They’re big, they’re fast and they’re on you.”

The Ducks may now be realizing what kind of team they’re becoming.

“I didn’t expect to shut them out in two straight games,” center Samuel Pahlsson said. “But it happened that way. We played good. The next game is going to be the hardest game in their arena.”

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Zero tolerance

Longest individual shutout sequence in the NHL playoffs (x-active):

*--* 270:08 George Hainsworth, Montreal March 28-April 3, 1930 248:35 Dave Kerr, N.Y. Rangers March 25-April 6, 1937 248:32 Normie Smith, Detroit March 24-28, 1936 229:42 x-Ilya Bryzgalov, Mighty Ducks May 1-7, 2006 218:42 Gerry McNeil, Montreal March 27-31, 1951 217:54 Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Mighty Ducks May 5-16, 2003

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Note: The streak is comprised of the period of time between surrendering a goal and may not necessarily correspond to the start of a game, but streak could have begun during a match.

Goaltenders who have recorded three consecutive playoff shutouts:

*--* 2006 Ilya Bryzgalov, Mighty Ducks vs. Calgary (May 3), vs. Colorado (May 5, 7) 2003 Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Mighty Ducks vs. Minnesota (May 10, 12, 14) 2002 Brent Johnson, St. Louis vs. Chicago (April 20, 21, 23) 2002 Patrick Lalime, Ottawa vs. Philadelphia (April 20, 22, 24) 1945 Frank McCool, Toronto vs. Detroit (April 6, 8, 12) 1929 John R. Roach, N.Y. Rangers vs. N.Y. Americans (March 19, 21), vs. Toronto (March 24) 1926 Clint Benedict, Montreal* vs. Ottawa (March 27), vs. Victoria** (March 30, April 1)

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* -- Maroons; ** -- Cougars.