8D The Denver Post g Friday, May 5, 2006 AVALANCHE COLORADO AVALANCHE VS. MIGHTY DUCKS OF ANAHEIM Special teams Avs’ best bet BY ADRIAN DATER | THE DENVER POST The Avalanche gets the edge in almost every category here, so it’ll be a blowout, right? Wrong. The Ducks showed they are a formidable team in knocking off Northwest Division champion Calgary in the first round. They also have the home-ice advantage in the series. But we saw how much home ice was worth to Western teams in the first round — zip. The Avs look a little deeper and a little more talented overall than the Mighty Ducks. It’ll be a close series, but the bet here is the Avs will find a way to win again. PREDICTION: AVALANCHE IN SIX GAMES THE AVS ADVANTAGE OFFENSE THE DUCKS Who would have believed the Avalanche of and balanced Mighty Ducks, Colorado needs 2006 would be a more potent offensive team another good series from usual suspects Joe than the one of 2003-04 that included Peter Sakic, Milan Hejduk and — maybe even more Forsberg, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne? than in the first round — Alex Tanguay. Alex Tanguay The new NHL rules are partly responsible The Ducks are led by, surprise, surprise: Jeff Vinnick for that, but these Avs are a deeper, more Selanne. The friendly Finn was awful for the Getty Images balanced offensive team than that so-called Avs in his one season here, but surgery to his “superstar” team. The addition of Steve knee helped him regain his speed. Center Konowalchuk for this series after he missed Andy McDonald had a terrific season, and most of the season makes the Avs even deeper. youngsters Chris Kunitz, Dustin Penner and Still, to have a chance of beating the quick Ryan Getzlaf were surprisingly good. ADVANTAGE DEFENSE Teemu Selanne Both teams have top-notch two-way round. Ruslan Salei is a good offensive Jeff Gross defensemen. The Avs have Rob Blake, and the defenseman for Anaheim, but the Avs proba- Getty Images Ducks have Scott Niedermayer. Who is bet- bly have a little more depth overall on the ter? It’s probably a toss-up. blue line. It will be interesting to see if the The Avs might have a little more offensive Avs bench Kurt Sauer in the series in favor of skill and mobility among the defensemen Bob Boughner or Jeff Finger. Sauer wound up with John-Michael Liles and Brett Clark con- in the doghouse after a turnover in Game 5 tinuing their superb play through the first against the Stars. Scott Niedermayer Jeff Gross Getty Images ADVANTAGE GOALTENDING Rob Blake Jose Theodore was decent in Games 1 was benched in favor of Bryzgalov in the first Nick Laham Getty Images through 4 against Dallas, and excellent in round, and watched as his former backup led Game 5. So he comes into the series with a lot Anaheim to a series victory over Calgary. of confidence for the Avalanche. Bryzgalov played well, but against a Will Anaheim continue to Flames team that had trouble scoring all stick with Ilya Bryzgalov against year. The Avs figure to give him a tougher the Avs? Jean-Sebastien Giguere challenge. ADVANTAGE SPECIAL TEAMS Anaheim’s special-teams statistics weren’t down low. The Avs’ power play seems to have especially gaudy in the regular season but jelled nicely in the postseason, with Hejduk were good in the first round. Salei and starting to get his game together and Blake Niedermayer are good point men, and firing bombs from the point. Konowalchuk’s Selanne has regained his sharpshooting skills addition should help the PK unit. COACHING ADVANTAGE : EVEN Jose Joel Quenneville outcoached his good — inserting rookie Wojtek Wolski onto the Theodore friend, Dave Tippett, in the first round, but it second line for Round 1 was proof. He has a Ronald Martinez won’t be easy to outmaneuver Ducks coach good feel for his team, and it plays hard for Getty Images Randy Carlyle — a former longtime NHL him. But the Ducks do the same for Carlyle, defenseman. who has guided a team nobody thought Ilja Bryzgalov Quenneville is bold with his line changes would get this far. Harry How Getty Images The players The lineups | Lines are left to right The players Pos No Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM AVALANCHE DUCKS Pos No Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM Offense Offense L 15 Andrew Brunette 5 3 4 7 1 4 R 13 Teemu Selanne 7 3 3 6 0 22 Andrew Brunette, Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk Chris Kunitz, Andy McDonald, Teemu Selanne C 19 Joe Sakic 5 3 4 7 3 4 Alex Tanguay, Brad Richardson, Ian Laperriere Dustin Penner, Todd Marchant, Joffrey Lupul D 23 Fra. Beauchemi 7 2 3 5 -1 17 R 23 Milan Hejduk 5 2 5 7 5 2 Steve Konowalchuk, Wojtek Wolski, Jim Dowd Jeff Friesen, Samuel Pahlsson, Rob Niedermayer D 27 Sc. Niedermayer 7 2 3 5 -3 23 Antti Laaksonen, Brett McLean, Dan Hinote Todd Fedoruk, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry L 18 Alex Tanguay 5 2 2 4 3 10 C 19 Andy McDonald 7 1 4 5 2 23 Defense Defense C 8 Wojtek Wolski 5 1 3 4 -1 0 John-Michael Liles, Rob Blake Francois Beauchemin, Scott Niedermayer L 38 Chris Kunitz 7 1 2 3 -3 9 D 4 Rob Blake 5 2 1 3 4 8 Karlis Skrastins, Brett Clark Sean O’Donnell, Ruslan Salei D 24 Ruslan Salei 7 1 2 3 3 7 Patrice Brisebois, Kurt Sauer Vitaly Vishnevski, Joe DiPenta D 5 Brett Clark 5 2 1 3 0 0 R 61 Corey Perry 7 0 3 3 -2 10 Goalies Goalies R 38 Jim Dowd 5 1 2 3 2 4 L 12 Jeff Friesen 7 2 0 2 0 6 Jose Theodore, Peter Budaj Ilya Bryzgalov, Jean-Sebastien Giguere D 26 J.-Michael Liles 5 1 2 3 0 4 C 51 Ryan Getzlaf 7 1 1 2 -4 13 C 87 Pierre Turgeon 4 0 2 2 -2 0 C 44 Rob Niedermayer 7 1 1 2 2 8 L 24 Antti Laaksonen 5 0 2 2 1 0 The schedule The season series C 26 Samuel Pahlsson 7 1 1 2 1 6 C 12 Brad Richardson 5 1 0 1 0 4 D 5 Vitaly Vishnevski 7 0 2 2 3 4 Game 1: at Anaheim, Friday, 8 p.m., ALT Since 1995, the Avs are 9-4-4-1 in regular D 3 Karlis Skrastins 5 0 1 1 2 8 Game 2: at Anaheim, Sunday, 1 p.m., KUSA-9 season games against the Mighty Ducks. The C 22 Todd Marchant 7 0 2 2 1 12 R 14 Ian Laperriere 5 0 1 1 -3 6 Game 3: at Colorado, Tuesday, 6 p.m., OLN Avs hold a 3-1 edge this season: C 15 Joffrey Lupul 7 1 0 1 1 22 R 13 Dan Hinote 5 0 1 1 0 2 Game 4: at Colorado, Thursday, 8 p.m., OLN November 3 at Colorado W, 4-3 D 21 Sean O’Donnell 7 1 0 1 0 4 Game 5*: at Anaheim, May 14, 1 p.m., KUSA-9 November 18 at Anaheim W, 3-2 D 71 Patrice Brisebois 5 0 1 1 0 4 Game 6*: at Colorado, May 17, TBA, ALT March 22 at Anaheim L, 5-4* R 17 Jon. Hedstrom 3 0 1 1 0 1 C 53 Brett McLean 5 0 1 1 -2 4 Game 7*: at Anaheim, May 19, TBA, ALT March 28 at Colorado W, 4-3 L 32 Travis Moen 2 0 0 0 1 2 L 10 Brad May 1 0 0 0 -1 0 *if necessary *overtime L 76 Dustin Penner 4 0 0 0 2 9 D 34 Kurt Sauer 5 0 0 0 0 4 L 29 Todd Fedoruk 5 0 0 0 -1 4 L 22 S. Konowalchuk 0 0 0 0 0 0 Avalanche year-by-year Mighty Ducks year-by-year D 33 Joe DiPenta 7 0 0 0 2 1 Season W-L Result Season W-L Result Team 7 17 28 45 1 203 Team 5 18 33 51 3 70 ’95-96 16-6 Won Stanley Cup ’93-94 Did not qualify ’96-97 10-7 Lost conf. finals ’94-95 Did not qualify Opponents 7 16 27 43 -1 177 Opponents 5 15 28 43 -3 64 ’97-98 3-4 Lost first round ’95-96 Did not qualify No Goaltender GP Min Avg W L SO ’98-99 11-8 Lost conf. finals ’96-97 4-7 Lost conf. semis No Goaltender GP Min Avg W L T SO ’99-00 11-6 Lost conf. finals ’97-98 Did not qualify 30 Ilya Bryzgalov 4 226 0.80 2 1 1 60 Jose Theodore 5 318 2.64 4 1 0 0 ’00-01 16-7 Won Stanley Cup ’98-99 0-4 Lost first round 35 Jean-Se. Giguere 4 201 3.88 2 2 0 ’01-02 11-10 Lost conf. finals ’99-00 Did not qualify Team 5 320 2.81 4 1 0 0 ’02-03 3-4 Lost first round ’00-01 Did not qualify Team 7 431 2.23 4 3 1 Opponents 5 320 3.38 1 4 3 0 ’03-04 6-5 Lost conf. semis ’01-02 Did not qualify Opponents 7 431 2.37 3 4 0 ’04-05 Lockout ’02-03 15-6 Lost Stanley Cup Fin.