Anaheim, Calif. – Before Friday night, about the most contentious moment for the Avalanche at the Arrowhead Pond came in 1999, when Patrick Roy smashed up Bob Hartley’s office with his stick after not being credited for a victory.
Avs games with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim had been civil affairs otherwise. The Ducks, in fact, might have been the one Western Conference team with which the Avs never had a vicious moment.
That changed in the second period of Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
When Anaheim defenseman Francois Beauchemin injured Avs winger Andrew Brunette with a questionable hit to the head, a new rivalry was born.
Brunette and the Avs were left reeling after the hit, but they hope to fight back in today’s matinee Game 2 at the Pond. Don’t look for the Avalanche to try to get even with cheap shots, however; the Avs know they can’t get caught up in eye-for-an-eye thinking.
“You don’t want to be a retaliating type of team trying to settle old scores in the playoffs,” Avs defenseman Rob Blake said. “We know what we have to do (today). We have to come ready to work hard and do the things we didn’t do in Game 1. We just want to keep the focus on our game and fixing the things that were wrong (Friday).”
Brunette skated a full practice Saturday and will play today, which seemed to soothe vengeful feelings some players might have had after the 5-0 loss to the Ducks. Other than a sore jaw, Brunette said he felt good.
The Avalanche spent the morning in a somber video session. Coach Joel Quenneville had the team watch a tape of the Game 1 blowout. Quenneville said the tape showed one mistake that happened throughout that can’t repeat today.
“It was our (lack of) strength around the puck,” Quenneville said. “We stood around too much. We have to do a much better job of supporting the puck.”
Indeed, Anaheim always seemed to have two or three players surrounding one Avalanche player around the puck, leading to easy takeaways and making it harder for Avs players to do the same.
Avs captain Joe Sakic said, “They just outworked and outskated us. It was an awful performance by us. We have to be better, and we will be better.”
Even though the Avs know they can’t go headhunting, Blake said they have to be more physical.
“We have to respond better in that area, initiate more,” Blake said. “We have to finish our checks and go hard at them when they have the puck. We let them skate up ice way too easy. We’ve got to compete more.
“We weren’t ready for that game at all.”
Avs forward Steve Konowalchuk, who played his first game in about five months Friday, said Anaheim is one of the speedier teams in the conference.
“They’re fast, but we also made them fast,” Konowalchuk said. “We were too spaced out (defensively). We didn’t support the puck. We’ll be OK, but that’s a good team over there. We have to come to work a lot harder.”
Avs winger Alex Tanguay said watching tape of the game “wasn’t pretty.”
“I guess the good thing is that game was just the first game,” Tanguay said. “When it’s like the four or fifth game of a series, that’s when it’s bad. They’re a better skating team than Dallas. We’re a good skating team, too, but we have to work harder.”
Mighty Ducks lead series 1-0
NEXT: 1 p.m. today at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim
TV: KUSA-9
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.
