Rest doesn’t mean relax for Ducks

The Ducks were about 30 minutes into their second practice session after a two-day break when Coach Randy Carlyle suddenly stopped everything and let loose what was building up inside.

“Wake up,” Carlyle bellowed, adding a four-letter obscenity for emphasis. “We’ve got guys sleeping here.”

And then he halted practice again shortly thereafter and brought the team over to one side of the rink for an expletive-filled tirade.

The Ducks finally know who their opponent will be in the Western Conference semifinals -- it is Vancouver after the Canucks eliminated the Dallas Stars on Monday night.

But when Game 1 arrives Wednesday, it will have been six days since the Ducks last played a game.

It raises the question: Is there such a thing as too much rest in the Stanley Cup playoffs?

That depends on whom you ask.

“Any opportunity you can, you obviously want to take advantage of it,” Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said. “But at the same time you want to stay battle-tested and battle-ready. Obviously today’s practice was a step in that direction.”

Carlyle eventually arrived at a smile as the intense hourlong workout ended. But it was apparent that some lethargy had settled in and needed to be shaken out.

“They might look at you like you’ve got 10 heads when you start screaming and yelling at them three days before” the next series, Carlyle said. “If I feel I’m not getting the necessary focus, then I’ll do it.”

If there is concern about their competitive edge softening over time, the Ducks aren’t showing it.

“It shouldn’t be,” goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. “We’re hockey players. We’re very competitive by nature. Once the puck drops in Game 1, we should be ready to go.”

The two days away from the rink were welcomed after last week’s 4-1 Game 5 victory over Minnesota in the opening round.

Sean O’Donnell soothed his aches and pains with a massage and some time in the whirlpool. Teemu Selanne had one day of golf washed away because of rain but still managed to squeeze in nine holes.

“Mentally, it was nice to kind of get away from these guys,” O’Donnell said. “But I found myself in the morning, looking forward to seeing everybody and getting back in the room. After two days, you miss it and you want to see the guys again and get back on the ice.”

Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer, who knows a thing or two about long playoff runs, said the chance to get a few days off in between each series is nothing but beneficial.

“I think you need a break if you plan on sticking around in the playoffs for a while,” said Niedermayer, who helped the New Jersey Devils win three Stanley Cups.

“You need a break at some point. You can’t play six or seven games every round and still be there at the end of the day.

“I don’t think there’s been many teams that have done that. But when you do get it, you have to make the most of it.”

Niedermayer has some statistics to back up his theory.

The last seven Stanley Cup champions had at least one series where they won in five games or fewer. And among those that had a significant break in between series are the Devils’ title-winning teams of 2000 and 2003, of which Niedermayer was a member.

The question of rest has popped up in each of the Ducks’ most recent postseason stays.

In 2003, the Ducks swept Minnesota in four games to advance to the Stanley Cup finals but had to wait another week until New Jersey finished a seven-game victory over Ottawa in the East finals.

By the time the Cup finals got underway, the Ducks hadn’t played a game for 10 days and were sluggish in consecutive 3-0 losses to New Jersey in the first two games. They fought back to tie the series before losing to the Devils in seven games.

And then there is 2006. The Ducks also fed off the momentum of a hard-fought seven-game victory over Calgary in the opening round.

With only one day off before Game 1 of the conference semifinals against Colorado, they dominated the Avalanche, 5-0, en route to a sweep.

Making quick work of the Avalanche, however, meant they needed to wait for the winner of the Edmonton-San Jose series in the West semifinals. The Ducks had seven days to twiddle their thumbs and that momentum was gone for good when they lost the first two games to the Oilers despite being at home.

Selanne argued that the Ducks were fine in Game 1 against Edmonton.

“I really thought we played pretty well,” Selanne said. “We just faced a goalie [Dwayne Roloson] who was standing on his head. If you don’t score, you don’t win.”

Niedermayer hopes that series became a lesson learned.

“Coming out of the Colorado series, we obviously have a great feeling at that point,” he said. “We were playing well. Everybody felt good about what was going on here. We were ready to go. And then you have to sit back.

“At the best of times, it’s tough to hold on to that feeling. When you’re team is playing that well for any length of time, it’s tough to take a break from it. It probably led to a huge challenge. And hopefully guys learned from that.”

Pronger, who was on that Edmonton team, said it’s up to the Ducks to make the break work for them.

“You can have a built-in excuse in whatever scenario you want to choose,” he said.

“Sometimes you get time off and you come back feeling refreshed and ready to go. Other times you’re kind of feel like you’re losing that edge and it takes you a little bit of time to get that back and it’s too late.

“Momentum is a funny thing,” he said. “It can go either way for you.”

eric.stephens@latimes.com