A top-of-the-line beginning

Any questions about the Ducks’ long layoff or the lack of output from their top line in the Stanley Cup playoffs were firmly put to rest to begin the Western Conference semifinals.

The trio of Andy McDonald, Teemu Selanne and Chris Kunitz are alive and well as they cut through the Vancouver Canucks for four goals to take Game 1 with a 5-1 victory Wednesday night at the Honda Center.

Game 2 is Friday in Anaheim.

McDonald, Selanne and Kunitz combined for only three points in the five games against Minnesota in the first round, but in less than a 10-minute span of the first period, they tripled that total. All three factored in a three-goal outburst, with McDonald eventually getting the first three-goal game of his career with a late third-period score to send hats flying from the overflow crowd of 17,250.

“It was pretty exciting,” said McDonald, who hadn’t gotten a hat trick in 379 total games. “I’m pretty fortunate to play with some great players. Kuni and Teemu have been great for us all year long and they were great again tonight.”

The Canucks were fresh off a 4-1 victory at home over the Dallas Stars in Game 7 Monday night to capture their first playoff series win since 2003. On the other hand, the Ducks hadn’t played a game for five days and had a poor Game 1 history after an extended break.

So much for any rust developing.

“We wanted to get going right off the bat and make sure that break didn’t hurt us,” said center Ryan Getzlaf, who also scored.

It didn’t help that Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo, two of their top four defenseman, were sidelined. Bieksa has flu, according to Canucks officials, and Salo sat out with an injured torso.

Led by their speedsters up top, the Ducks roamed free through the Vancouver zone and fired at will against Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, who made 27 saves and somehow managed to keep his team in the game until being pulled after Getzlaf’s third-period goal.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere had 26 saves for the Ducks.

Vancouver actually jumped out first as Jeff Cowan chipped in a goal seven minutes into the period. Then the Ducks went to work.

McDonald swept in a loose puck after Chris Pronger’s booming slap shot hit Kunitz and the Canucks’ Mattias Ohlund in front of a screened Luongo as Vancouver was trying to kill off a bench minor penalty. It gave the Ducks a power-play goal in each of their last five playoff games.

The floodgates were opened. Selanne took apart the Canucks’ Brent Sopel with a nifty move to his backhand before sweeping the puck past Luongo.

Kunitz, who went scoreless against the Wild, started the play when he swept the puck into the corner to McDonald, who quickly shot it over to Selanne in the slot.

“Right now, we’re just trying to put pucks on the net and try to get things to go in,” said Kunitz, who had three assists. “The last series, obviously, we didn’t get some bounces. This time, we were shooting and they were going in.”

Selanne decided to return the favor to McDonald to close out the rollicking first period.

Kunitz quickly got the puck through the neutral zone to a speeding Selanne for a two-on-one rush with McDonald with Vancouver’s Willie Mitchell the only defenseman back.

“It was great patience by him because he knew that the defense was going to pinch,” Selanne said of Kunitz. “He knew I was open and made a great play to get a two-on-one with Andy.”

Selanne put a pass right on McDonald’s stick and the Ducks’ center slipped a backhand between Luongo’s pads at the 19:11 mark.

eric.stephens@latimes.com