Ducks Don’t Plan to Just Sit on Sizable Lead

The Mighty Ducks have history on their side with a 3-0 lead over the Colorado Avalanche heading into Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinal series tonight in the Pepsi Center. But they won’t be relying on that.

It’s true that only two teams -- the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders -- have come back from that deficit to win a best-of-seven series.

But the Ducks can look to baseball to guard against overconfidence. Ask the New York Yankees about their 3-0 lead against the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League championship series. There was talk of a sweep -- then Boston won the next four games to reach the World Series.

“You want to put them away as soon as possible,” forward Joffrey Lupul said Wednesday. “We saw what happened with the Sox and the Yankees.

“You never know. They’re a good team with a lot of talent over there,” he said of the Avalanche.

Duck Coach Randy Carlyle is taking nothing for granted.

“By no means, from our perspective, is this thing anywhere near over,” he said. “We know what kind of character they have in their room.”

The Ducks have had 3-0 leads in the playoffs twice before, both in 2003. And both times they won the next game to sweep, first the Detroit Red Wings and then the Minnesota Wild.

The Avalanche will have to quickly work past the disappointment of Tuesday’s overtime loss, where its best game of the series melted away with Lupul’s heroics. His four-goal performance was the first in the club’s 12-year history.

“It is kind of frustrating,” winger Milan Hejduk said. “But what can you do? We’re down three-nothing. It seems like we’re progressing every game. We’ve got to keep doing that and maybe we can win tomorrow night’s game.

“That’s the situation for us. We have to win to keep the series alive. Hopefully we can do it.”

The Ducks are expecting a battle.

“You can’t look past a team with Joe Sakic and Rob Blake,” Lupul said. “We’re still very wary of what they can do. They played their best game of the series and we expect them to play a little bit better in Game 4.”

These playoffs have seen different heroes emerge for the Ducks. Low-scoring defensemen Ruslan Salei and Sean O’Donnell have three goals between them, with O’Donnell’s tally winning an overtime game against the Calgary Flames.

Samuel Pahlsson has scored twice in the postseason and locked up Sakic and Calgary’s Jarome Iginla.

“To keep going in the playoffs, you need different heroes each night,” center Andy McDonald said. “We’ve had guys step up at different times. It makes us tougher to play against. A lot of guys have elevated their game.”

The latest is Lupul. The second-year forward’s four goals was the first such performance in the playoffs since Theo Fleury did it for Calgary in 1995.

Lupul has helped take the burden off McDonald and forward Teemu Selanne, who haven’t hit the score-sheet in the last two games.

“That’s the sign of a good hockey team,” Avalanche forward Andrew Brunette said. “They’re playing well, when every line contributes like that.”

But Lupul, 22, wouldn’t have had his historic night without the dominance of 23-year-old rookie linemate Dustin Penner. Penner set up three of Lupul’s goals, including the decisive one in overtime, and created a matchup problem in the Avalanche zone with his 6-foot-4, 245-pound frame.

“The game last night is a prime example of what he can do,” Carlyle said. “Now the thing is, for us coaches, to get him to do it every night.”