Young and Restless Ducks Roll

The tank hit empty by the end of the second period, the legs grew heavier as the minutes wore on and the game soon became a total mismatch.

Except those were the well-rested Colorado players who were sucking air as the relentless Mighty Ducks skated circles around the Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

In a stunning performance that defied expectations Friday night, Teemu Selanne led a second-period offensive assault and Ilya Bryzgalov posted his second consecutive postseason shutout in the Ducks’ 5-0 rout of the Avalanche at the Arrowhead Pond.

Only two days earlier, the Ducks had finished off the Calgary Flames in a difficult seven-game series and some wondered whether they would be emotionally drained Friday against Colorado, which had four full days of rest after polishing off the Dallas Stars in five games.

Instead, the Avalanche looked like the team that had been beaten down.

“We came right back at it,” Duck defenseman Francois Beauchemin said. “Sometimes it’s a good thing not having too many days off. You stay focused.”

The Ducks’ impressive cadre of youngsters continued to make a major impact in this postseason. Beauchemin assisted on two goals and sparked a four-goal second period with a momentum-changing hit on Andrew Brunette, and Chris Kunitz had a goal and an assist.

Joffrey Lupul, Travis Moen and Samuel Pahlsson also scored goals and Bryzgalov dominated the matchup in the net with Colorado’s Jose Theodore. Bryzgalov made 29 saves in becoming the first rookie to record back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs since 1945 when Toronto’s Frank McCool had three in a row against Detroit.

“Tonight, the team played so great again,” said Bryzgalov, who extended his shutout streak to 169 minutes 42 seconds. “They didn’t give up lots of scoring chances to Colorado. The team is playing really, really well and that’s why we won the game.”

With the game scoreless early in the second period, Beauchemin shook things up when he put his right shoulder into Brunette’s jaw in a devastating open-ice hit that knocked the Avalanche forward out for the game.

The Ducks got the puck on the ensuing rush and Jeff Friesen sent a cross-ice pass to Pahlsson, who one-timed it past Theodore.

“He kind of got a bad pass,” Beauchemin said of Brunette. “It was a clean hit. It was pretty bad because he stayed down on the ice. I didn’t see where the puck went. We went back in their zone and [Pahlsson] did a great job with it.”

Colorado forward Ian Laperriere didn’t view the play in the same manner.

“I thought it was a cheap shot,” Laperriere said. “The puck was behind Beauchemin. That was not right for him to do that. They came down on a five on four and scored.”

Selanne then took over against the team for which he had career-worst totals of 16 goals and 32 points in 2003-04, his only season with Colorado.

The 35-year-old forward set up Kunitz’s goal at 10:24 of the second and then added his fourth goal of the playoffs at 19:05. Forty-nine seconds later, he set up Lupul with a nifty pass in the slot after getting his own rebound.

“I think we had a lot of energy,” Selanne said. “I don’t know why. I think everybody did their job very well and that’s all it takes from this team.”

Bryzgalov had little action in the first, but he did stop Joe Sakic on a two-on-one chance before earning his keep in the second. He stoned Alex Tanguay after a Duck turnover in their own zone and stopped Antti Laaksonen on an odd-man rush.

The Ducks might have been playing only 48 hours after the series-clinching victory in Calgary but they seemed to summon whatever they had in reserve. They outshot the Avalanche, 14-4, in the first period and kept most of the play in the offensive zone.

Taking from what they did against the Flames, they used their brawn as well as their speed. In the opening minutes, Todd Marchant hammered John-Michael Liles into the boards and Rob Niedermayer leveled Tanguay.

Sakic, Colorado’s superstar captain, also took the brunt of hits by Beauchemin and Friesen.

“It doesn’t matter if you lose 5-0 or in overtime,” Sakic said. “It’s a loss. It’s one-nothing for them and we have to be better.”