Lupul Hits Command Key

Joffrey Lupul tried his best to contemplate the moment.

As the latest hero for the undeterred Mighty Ducks, the 21-year-old winger sifted through all the postgame questions of his magical night in Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche before revealing his true feeling about his four-goal command performance.

“It’s awesome,” Lupul said. “I’ll remember this as long as I live.”

Lupul completed his sensational one-man show with the game-winning goal at 16:30 of overtime that gave the Ducks a 4-3 victory in the Western Conference semifinals in front of a stunned sellout crowd Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center.

Game 4 is here Thursday.

The 18,007 in attendance who roared when Rob Blake forced the extra period with his late goal in the third period weren’t the only ones in shock when Lupul’s fourth goal trickled through the legs of Colorado goaltender Jose Theodore.

The Avalanche players were a devastated group as they slowly skated off the ice staring at a 3-0 deficit in the series. In the other dressing room, the Ducks are starting to realize that there may be more than just hard work and diligence to this playoff run.

As the Ducks can recall what Jean-Sebastien Giguere did for them in 2003, getting to the Stanley Cup finals sometimes takes something superhuman. Lupul became the first player in NHL history to score four goals in a playoff game that included the game-winner in overtime.

The last player to score four goals in a playoff game was Theo Fleury, who accomplished the feat in 1995 while playing for Calgary against San Jose.

“To get four goals like he did ... we needed them all,” Duck captain Scott Niedermayer said. “Those nights are great when they happen.”

Lupul won it with his slap shot, but he was on the receiving end of some brilliant plays by linemates Dustin Penner and Todd Marchant all night.

On the game-winner, Marchant forced defenseman Brett Clark to send a pass behind the Avalanche net to Patrice Brisebois. Brisebois tried to get the puck to Joe Sakic, but Penner intercepted the pass and fed Lupul just below the left circle.

“He was trying to fire it to the far side to me,” Sakic said. “If he does that, we have a three-on-two.”

Instead, Lupul let loose a shot that appeared to deflect in front of Theodore and fool the goaltender as he couldn’t keep the puck from going between his pads. It was the third assist for Penner.

“I was yelling for it,” Lupul said. “I think he was looking for me today after I had a couple. He made a nice drop pass. I got a little fortunate on that one.”

The teams went back and forth in an exhilarating third period after forging a 1-1 tie.

In the first few minutes, Theodore stopped Andy McDonald on a point-blank chance after making a brilliant glove save on Teemu Selanne late in the second.

The Avalanche then capitalized on some sloppy play by the Ducks’ power-play unit as Jim Dowd scored a short-handed goal. But Lupul was already in sharpshooter mode.

The second-year forward had already beaten Theodore in the second period. At 8:54 of the third, he snapped a wrist shot by the goalie to tie the score and then he followed with another wicked wrist shot less than two minutes later that beat Theodore on the stick side.

“You need everybody,” Niedermayer said. “You’re not just going to rely on a few guys to do it every night. You need some guys to step up and take over on certain nights.”

Blake postponed the celebration at the 13:35 mark of the third when he grabbed his own blocked shot and ripped a slap shot by Duck goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, whose shutout streak ended at 249 minutes 15 seconds when he gave up a first-period goal to Dan Hinote.

The scoreless streak is second in NHL postseason history behind George Hainsworth, who had a 270:08 streak for Montreal in 1930.

“Someday it was going to happen,” Bryzgalov said. “It just happened to be today. Nobody can play hockey without giving up a goal for the rest of their life.”

Meanwhile, Colorado is faced with a nearly insurmountable deficit. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders are the only hockey teams that have rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game playoff series.

“A couple years ago, I came back down 3-1, so we just have to win the next one, build from there and get the momentum on our side,” Theodore said.

Lupul said the last time he scored four goals in a game was when he played for Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League.

“Sometimes, you feel like, ‘It is it ever going to go in?’ ” he said. “Tonight was a feeling like, ‘Am I ever going to miss?’ ”