Anaheim, Calif. – Mighty Ducks of Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle is no longer addressing goaltending controversy questions.
No one is asking them.
“There’s none now,” Carlyle said with a smile Saturday after being asked if he misses questions about new No. 1 Ilya Bryzgalov and the demoted veteran Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Bryzgalov, a rookie from Russia who backed up Giguere in the regular season, undoubtedly will make his fourth consecutive start – and fifth start of the playoffs – today when the Ducks host the Avalanche in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal.
Bryzgalov, 25, has been almost perfect since getting his opportunity in Anaheim’s first-round series with Calgary when Giguere suffered a undisclosed lower-body injury. Bryzgalov leads all playoff goalies with a .063 goals-against average and .975 save percentage. He has allowed just three goals in 286 minutes.
“All I know is he’s made some big stops,” Carlyle said of Bryzgalov. “He made saves when he was called upon, and that’s really how I would deem his performance.”
Wednesday in Calgary, Bryzgalov became the first rookie in 13 years to deliver a shutout in a Game 7. In Friday’s Game 1 against the Avs, he became the first rookie to produce back- to-back playoff shutouts since Toronto’s Frank McCool in 1945.
Today, Bryzgalov could match McCool’s record of three consecutive shutouts by a rookie. But when reporters mentioned the feat, Bryzgalov changed the subject and tried to make his job sound easy.
“I just play the game,” he said. “I don’t feel any pressure because I’m confident in our team….I just try to do my best job.”
Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer doesn’t pretend to understand Bryzgalov.
“He’s just a little crazy, a little goofy,” Niedermayer said. “I don’t really know him all that well. You can’t understand half the things he says. But he has fun. He has a smile on his face all the time.”
Defending Beauchemin
Carlyle compared Francois Beauchemin’s Game 1 hit that injured the Avs’ Andrew Brunette to the check delivered by Colorado’s Brett Clark that injured Dallas’ Mike Modano a week ago.
“That hit has taken place throughout the course of the regular season,” Carlyle said about cheap-shot accusations made by Colorado coach Joel Quenneville.
“I guess if he sees it differently, obviously he feels differently about it, and that’s his prerogative. His comments, I take them with a grain of salt because he’s representing his hockey team.”
Footnotes
Anaheim’s No. 3 goalie is former Cornell star David McKee, who defeated Colorado College 3-2 in March to end the Tigers’ season at the NCAA Midwest Regional championship game in Green Bay, Wis. McKee signed with the Ducks on April 1, giving up his senior year at Cornell…. Ducks rookie Corey Perry remains day to day with a knee injury.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
