Ducks get jump on the Wild

The path toward the Stanley Cup was officially opened Wednesday night and the Ducks took a successful first step down the trail.

Amid high expectations that have followed them into the postseason, the Ducks started their quest for the silver chalice with a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Wednesday night at the Honda Center.

The victory was provided by rookie forward Dustin Penner, who scored the winning goal at 14 minutes, 40 seconds of the third period as the Ducks held serve heading into Game 2 Friday night.

One victory down and, if they have their way, another 15 to go.

“It’s always big to get the lead in the series,” Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. “Especially when you’re at home. You’ve got to take care of your business at home. That’s what we’re planning on doing.”

The winning play came courtesy of the young line of Penner, Getzlaf and Corey Perry, which figures to have a large say in the playoff run.

Getzlaf zipped a long pass to a streaking Penner, who steamed in on Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom. Backstrom stopped the initial shot but was knocked into the net by his defenseman, Kim Johnsson.

Perry poked at the loose puck before Penner jammed it in to send the energetic sellout crowd of 17,180 into hysterics.

“Getzy has great vision and he saw me on that side,” Penner said. “He turned it up ice on his forehand, which is tough from the right side of the ice. We practice driving the net and I tried to protect the puck as best I could. I just hacked away at it for a long time and it went in.”

Backstrom, who made several big saves among the 34 shots he faced, said he thought the play should have been blown dead when the puck was momentarily underneath his legs.

“That’s a goal that shouldn’t be on the board,” said Backstrom, who was making his first playoff start. “I watched the replay and I was sure it was under me and nobody saw the puck. Of course you’re going to get the puck out from a goalie if you slash at it with your sticks.”

Teemu Selanne scored his 16th career playoff goal and Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves in a surprise start in net. Bryzgalov’s solid performance validated the decision by Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle to start the backup instead of Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Giguere won a career-high 36 games this season after decisively winning the starting job in training camp. But the 29-year-old goalie spent much of the last six days caring for his infant son, Maxime, who was born with a condition that may leave him blind in one eye.

Carlyle said he thought starting Giguere right away may have been too much following the emotional toll of the past week.

“We felt that emotional rollercoaster Giguere has been on, it was more beneficial to let him get his feet underneath him,” Carlyle said. “With the good news that he received Tuesday about his son, we felt it would be best if he backed up tonight.

“Now we have both goaltenders available after three days of work.”

Giguere said he was ready even though he had only one full workout on Monday and hadn’t played since March 31 at St. Louis. He participated in the morning skate Wednesday before learning that Bryzgalov would get the nod.

“You’re kind of asking the wrong person,” Giguere said of not playing. “I don’t know what played into it. I haven’t talked to Randy about his decision. I never did and I never will. It’s up to him.”

Carlyle had the luxury of having two goalies at the top of their game. Bryzgalov made himself a viable option when he went 5-1-3 with a 1.96 goals-against average over his last nine starts, including a career-high 42-save effort against Columbus to end the regular season.

“When you play well, it gives you more confidence,” Bryzgalov said. “The team played very well in front of me.”

Minnesota is back in the playoffs for the first time since scoring only one goal in being swept by the Ducks in the 2003 West finals. The Wild did score Wednesday as Pavol Demitra beat Bryzgalov on its first shot of the second period.

Selanne tied the game midway through the period when he beat Backstrom on a breakaway after receiving a brilliant pass from Francois Beauchemin.

eric.stephens@latimes.com