The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim didn’t break a sweat Wednesday, the day after they took a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series with the Avalanche.
Only seven players went through on-ice drills, including just one who played in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime victory at the Pepsi Center. Veterans Teemu Selanne and Todd Marchant showed up only to meet with reporters, and others just to get a massage.
Younger players such as Chris Kunitz, Ryan Getzlaf and Joffrey Lupul, the Game 3 hero with four goals, “worked out” by forming a circle and kicking a soccer ball in the hallways at the Pepsi Center.
It was an unusual atmosphere for a young team on the verge of sweeping Colorado and advancing to the Western Conference finals.
But Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, in his first year of coaching in the NHL, is confident rest and relaxation is what his team needed on the eve of tonight’s Game 4.
“There could be a perception that we’re a loose group, but I think there is a time and place for everything, and I don’t think that you can be screwed on as tight as maybe coaches get and management gets,” Carlyle said.
“From a player’s perspective, they need their time to sit back and relax and forget about some of the things that are transpiring around them. That gives their mind and their body an opportunity to recover.”
Carlyle expects his team to face its biggest challenge of the series tonight. “We know the quality of their hockey club,” he said. “They’ve been a resilient group all year, and I would expect that they will play their best game of the series.”
Lupul pure Canadian
Lupul, 22, was born and raised in Western Canada, as were his parents. The family’s last name is from the Ukrainian lineage of Joffrey’s father.
Lupul said his parents came up with Joffrey to “mix it up a bit” from traditional spellings of Geoffrey and Jeffrey. However, his first name is pronounced JAUF-rey.
A day after Lupul became the first NHL player since 1995 to score four goals in a playoff game, he said: “It was a great night, one that I’ll remember forever. Unfortunately it’s over, so I better refocus and get ready for Game 4.”
Footnotes
Getzlaf turned 21 on Wednesday. …
Kunitz expects the Avalanche to use “desperate measures” tonight.
Asked what he meant, Kunitz said: “To do whatever it takes to win. We’re going to try to do the same thing, and withstand the emotions when they have their fans behind them.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
*This story has been corrected. It incorrectly reported that Mighty Ducks of Anaheim center Joffrey Lupul was the first NHL player to score four goals in a playoff game. Lupul was the first since 1995, when Theo Fleury did it for Calgary.
