Ducks Are Swept Up in Moment

Calgary? Gone. Colorado? Swept aside.

Who’s next for the Mighty Ducks?

The Ducks earned the right to sit back for the next few days and await their opponent for the Western Conference finals after completing a four-game sweep of the Avalanche with a 4-1 victory Thursday night at the Pepsi Center.

Led by another decisive effort from their new power trio of Dustin Penner, Todd Marchant and Joffrey Lupul, the sixth-seeded Ducks will face San Jose or Edmonton in the next round. The Sharks and Oilers play Game 4 of their series tonight, with San Jose holding a 2-1 lead.

“These things don’t sink in right away,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “I thought the series was a hard-fought playoff battle. Even though we won four straight, there were some bumps and bruises on both sides.”

Marchant scored his first two goals of the playoffs, one of them into an empty net, and combined with Lupul to set up Penner for an insurance goal in the third period to cap off their dominance of the Avalanche in the series.

Teemu Selanne also provided what proved to be the game-winner early in the second period, and Duck goalie Ilya Bryzgalov continued his amazing playoff run with a 40-save effort for his sixth consecutive victory.

The Ducks have now won all three series-clinching games when they’ve had a 3-0 lead, having also finished off sweeps of Detroit and Minnesota in their march to the 2003 Stanley Cup finals.

“We had the three-game lead and we knew they’d be coming hard,” captain Scott Niedermayer said. “It’s important not to drag these things out too long.”

It was the threesome of Penner, Marchant and Lupul that figured prominently in the Game 3 victory, with Lupul scoring four goals for the first time in his career and Penner assisting on three of them. Marchant, who also had an assist Tuesday, became the latest Duck to take a star turn.

With the Ducks struggling at the outset and down 1-0 on an early goal by Avalanche captain Joe Sakic, Penner busted past Colorado defenseman Patrice Brisebois off the boards and wrapped a pass around former Duck defenseman Kurt Sauer to a trailing Marchant, who punched in the feed past Colorado goaltender Jose Theodore.

It was Marchant’s first goal since March 12 against Phoenix. But the veteran center was more interested in raving about the rookie Penner, whose combination of size and skill was difficult for the Avalanche to defend.

“He’s a big body and he skates extremely well for a guy that weighs 250 pounds,” Marchant said of Penner.

“Tonight, he makes an unbelievable pass on my goal. All I had to do was put my stick down. I barely even saw the puck and just redirected it.”

Selanne put the Ducks up for good when he converted on a play that was set up by the hustle of rookie Chris Kunitz. Kunitz beat Brisebois to the puck behind the Colorado net to nullify an icing call and got it to Andy McDonald, who slipped a pass to Selanne.

But it was the red-hot second line that teamed to provide the emphatic moment that resulted in handing Colorado its first playoff sweep since the franchise moved from Quebec to Denver in 1995.

Lupul got the puck along the right boards and quickly got a pass to a streaking Marchant that set up a two-on-one rush with Penner and fed the 6-foot-4 left wing, who banged it into the open left side.

In the four games, Lupul had six goals and Penner and Marchant each had six points.

“Right now, we’re starting to click,” Penner said. “The puck’s going in the net for us, and our hard work is paying off.”

Bryzgalov continued to be an imposing presence. As the Ducks fought through a sloppy first period, the 25-year-old rookie made a series of big saves to keep the Avalanche from seizing control.

Ian Laperriere was turned away with a leg save during a scramble in front of the net, and Andrew Brunette, Brett McLean and Dan Hinote all were foiled on a single rush. Hinote looked away in amazement as his point-blank try was snatched out of the air.

Since relieving Jean-Sebastien Giguere in Game 5 against Calgary, Bryzgalov is 6-0 and has made 179 saves in 184 shots. In this postseason, he leads all playoff goaltenders with an 0.87 goals-against average and a .967 save percentage.

“You know, I expected Colorado to come hard at us,” Bryzgalov said. “In that moment, you have to do everything for the team and not give up those goals in the first period.”