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Mighty Bryzgalov carries Ducks past Avalanche

 

There's no goaltending controversy any longer in Orange County, where Russian import Ilya Bryzgalov gets white towels waved in appreciation with practically every save he makes for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Bryzgalov, 25, regularly hears appreciative chants of BRYZ-GAL-OV from admiring fans at the Arrowhead Pond as he shuts the door on opponents with almost casual ease.

He posted his third consecutive shutout yesterday in a convincing 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche, giving Anaheim a 2-0 lead in their National Hockey League Western Conference semi-final series. Game 3 will be tomorrow in Denver.

Bryzgalov now has the longest streak by an NHL rookie in the playoffs, going 229 minutes 42 seconds without allowing a goal.

Since taking over from Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Bryzgalov has led Anaheim to four successive wins.

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle rolled the dice when he replaced No. 1 netminder Giguère with the less experienced Bryzgalov during the first round of the playoffs.

"I just tell him to continue to play, come to practice, stop the puck, smile, have a good day," Carlyle said jokingly when asked how he handles an inexperienced postseason player now fourth overall in shutout time in the Stanley Cup playoffs. (George Hainsworth of the Montreal Canadiens is on top at 270 minutes 8 seconds in 1930.)

"I don't think he realizes [what he's doing]," Ducks veteran Teemu Selanne said of his goalie. "He's just a guy who goes out there and has fun and doesn't take any extra pressure or anything. So don't tell him [what he's doing]."

Bryzgalov has had shutout streaks before, he claimed, like three in a row he posted with the Russian national junior team before the world championship a few years ago.

"It's not a big deal for me," he said. "I don't think about it. Right now I feel confident because our team is playing well and they're giving me confidence."

Anaheim has controlled this series.

The Ducks have done it by being more physical than the Avalanche and winning most of the puck-possession battles, often leading to scoring chances.

The Ducks have scored 13 unanswered goals over the past four games and have successfully killed off 23 consecutive penalties.

Yesterday, Anaheim got a power-play goal from rookie Ryan Getzlaf on a deflected shot at 18 minutes 17 seconds of the first period to establish momentum.

Ruslan Salei scored with a blistering point shot at 4:41 of the second that gave Avs netminder Jose Theodore no chance. Joffrey Lupul added another later in the second with a brilliant move at the net after a between-the-legs pass from linemate Dustin Penner.

"Our goaltender's confident, we're confident in him," Lupul said. "It makes it a lot easier to play when you know a guy's back there and he's hot."

The Ducks seem to shoot from every conceivable angle, while the Avs want to make the perfect play, often being checked at the last moment, or having Bryzgalov flash his catching glove or get his leg pad on a shot.

Bryzgalov preserved his third shutout with saves against Milan Hejduk, Ian Laperriere and Joe Sakic on clear-cut chances in the last period. He finished with 22 saves, many of them on the spectacular side.

"Ilya and [Giguère] have been unbelievable the whole year and now it's Ilya's turn to be hot," Selanne said. "What a great feeling when you have a goalie that gives you a chance to win."

The Avs are frustrated to the point that they've got away from the slick passing game that carried them past the Dallas Stars last round. Sakic managed only one shot on goal each period in Game 2.

"Nobody knew him, now everybody knows him," Laperriere said of Bryzgalov. "He was really good against Calgary in Game 7 and he's been really good against us for two games. We know we've got to beat him sooner or later."

Bryzgalov has stopped 92 consecutive shots and Anaheim has scored 13 consecutive goals without being scored against, going back to Game 6 on May 1 against Calgary.

posted by: MightyDuck at 16:40 | link | comments |

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