ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)
-- A young Mighty Ducks goaltender is at it again in the playoffs -- and his name isn't Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Ilya Bryzgalov posted his second consecutive shutout Friday night when Anaheim opened the Western Conference semifinals with a 5-0 rout of Colorado. Teemu Selanne helped provide the offensive punch, with a goal and two assists against his former Avalanche teammates.
Bryzgalov, who started again over 2003 playoffs MVP Giguere, is the first rookie to post back-to-back postseason shutouts since Toronto's Frank McCool had three straight in 1945.
"I'm not really surprised. The team played very well and helped me stop the puck," said Bryzgalov, a 25-year-old Russian who was coming off a 3-0 victory over Calgary in Game 7 of the first-round series.
The Ducks scored four times in the second period, including goals by Selanne and Joffrey Lupul in the final minute to break the game open. Bryzgalov made 29 saves after stopping all 22 he faced in his clinching win at Calgary.
He only allowed three goals on 93 shots in four games against the Flames.
Bryzgalov got lots of help in this series opener from the Ducks' defense, which prevented the Avalanche from getting off few quality shots.
"The defensemen make my job easier. Our team is playing very well and I am feeling very well, too," he said. "Our team had a great performance and they didn't give a lot of scoring chances. The guys played great."
Defenseman Scott Niedermayer said, "He's playing well right now. He's doing his job, obviously, and making the saves he needs to make and it's great. It's fortunate we have the two goalies we have."
Colorado's Jose Theodore allowed all five Anaheim goals on 34 shots.
While the Ducks had only one day off between wrapping up their first-round series and beginning the matchup against Colorado, they dominated the Avalanche, who eliminated Dallas on Sunday.
"The Game 7 in Calgary, we played really well and this was a carry-over of that," Selanne said. "Sometimes you don't have so much time to think about the next series, and we just jumped into this series right away."
Coach Randy Carlyle liked the Ducks' energy level.
"We were able to turn the page on what happened in the last series and refocus and re-energize ourselves," he said.
The Avalanche simply looked flat.
"Physically they were stronger and they wanted the puck more than we did," Colorado defenseman Rob Blake said. "They dominated pretty much all facets of the game. We've got to compete more."
Said coach Joel Quenneville: "We didn't have anything going for us. They beat us to every loose puck."
The start was the third of the postseason for Bryzgalov, who played in a 2-1 overtime defeat in the opening game against Calgary while Giguere was sidelined by a lower body injury. Giguere returned and wasn't particularly effective, so Bryzgalov started again in the crucial Game 6, a 2-1 victory. Then he won Game 7.
Giguere was sensational for the Ducks in 2003 when they made it to the Stanley Cup finals and lost Game 7 to New Jersey.
Selanne sped down on a breakaway and beat Theodore with a backhander on the glove side with 55 seconds left in the second period for his fifth of this postseason.
Fifty seconds later, he picked up his own rebound near the left post and slid the puck across the crease, where Lupul tapped it in for his second goal of the playoffs.
After Samuel Pahlsson opened the scoring at 2:38 of the second period, Chris Kunitz gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead at 10:24. Travis Moen made it 5-0 midway through the final period.
Kunitz, skating through the right circle, picked up a rebound of a shot by Francois Beauchemin that bounced some 10 feet in front of the goal. Kunitz took a shot that got past Theodore but hit the right post. The Ducks left winger then controlled the puck again and slipped it into the net as he skated past the post.
The goal was his second of the playoffs.
Pahlsson, also netting his second of this postseason, scored on a slap shot from the left circle at 2:38 of the period. Colorado was down a man on the play because left wing Andrew Brunette was lying on his face back up ice. Beauchemin had flattened him with a shoulder.
Brunette lay there for a couple of minutes before getting up and slowly skating off. He had a jaw injury and didn't return. He is tied for the team lead with three playoff goals.
Theodore had a busy first period, facing 14 shots -- 13 in the last 15 minutes -- while his Colorado teammates got off only four at Bryzgalov. The Ducks finally scored on their first shot of the second period.
Notes: Selanne's goal was his 22nd in the playoffs. ... Because of an arena conflict, dates of the sixth and seventh games, if necessary, were switched to May 16 and May 18, with Game 6 at Colorado and Game 7 at Anaheim. ... Anaheim RW Corey Perry was scratched because of a knee injury. ... All four meetings between the Avalanc