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DENVER (Ticker) -- The San Jose Sharks showed no signs of rust. The Colorado Avalanche showed plenty of signs of a hangover. Teemu Selanne scored his first two postseason goals in more than three years as the Sharks opened their Western Conference semifinal series with a 6-3 victory over the Avalanche. Off since eliminating the Phoenix Coyotes in five games in the quarterfinals on Friday, the Sharks scored the game's first three goals. Selanne, who had a pair of assists against Phoenix, had gone 14 games without a postseason goal since 1999, when he was with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. But the Finnish winger changed that in this contest. After Mike Ricci opened the scoring 6:13 into the contest, Selanne scored just over four minutes later. He tallied 11:28 into the second, giving San Jose a 3-0 lead. "What makes this team so special is we have a lot of depth and scoring," Selanne said. "It doesn't matter who scores the goals, but scoring is a big part of my game, so I try to get my confidence going, too." "Teemu was great tonight," Ricci said. "His line created some opportunities. It's a matter of time when he gets opportunities like that he's gonna bury them, that's what he does. He gets the puck on his stick and it's gone. He's a great player." Patrick Marleau added a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who have won four straight playoff games for the first time in club history. Two nights after eliminating the Los Angeles Kings in seven games, the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche were flat for much of the contest. The goals allowed were the most by the Avalanche in their last 50 postseason games. Before the game, the Avalanche got some bad news when defenseman Rob Blake, a Norris Trophy finalist, was scratched due to a lower leg injuy. Game Two is Saturday. "We wanted to get off to a good start and build off the momentum of Game Seven and it didn't happen, so now we need to put this behind us," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "We have another game Saturday afternoon and we know we're gonna be better." The Sharks needed less than seven minutes into the contest before striking first in the series. Battling in the right corner, Niklas Sundstrom chipped the puck into the slot to Ricci, who put a quick shot by goaltender Patrick Roy for his third goal of the postseason. "They proved they weren't tired," Ricci said. "They came out and worked hard all game and we proved that we weren't rusty, so Saturday's game will be better for both teams." Selanne, who the Sharks need a big series from, made it 2-0 at 10:35 when he beat Roy with a slap shot from the right circle. The Avalanche put little pressure on Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov in the first period as they managed seven shots. Without their defensive leader, the Avalanche missed a defensive assignment in their own end, leading to the Sharks' third goal with 8:32 left in the second period. Defenseman Martin Skoula left Selanne uncovered in the right faceoff circle, attempting to check Marco Sturm behind the net. But Sturm made a quick pass to Selanne, who beat Roy with a one-timer. Roy, a finalist for the Hart and Vezina Trophies, allowed five goals on 23 shots. With Mike Rathje in the penalty box, the Avalanche got on the board with 5:27 left in the second when Chris Drury unleashed a one-timer from the slot. The puck caromed off Nabokov's glove and into the net, giving Drury his third goal of the postseason. Colorado had been 20-0-1 when Drury scores this season. Drury's goal pumped some life into the Avalanche, who made it 3-2 with 2:03 left in the period when defenseman Greg de Vries scored from the left circle. Colorado did recover from its early defense lapses and held San Jose without a shot from nearly 12 minutes bridging the second and third periods. Nabokov, who had a pair of shutouts during the regular season in Colorado, helped make the lead stand up. He stopped Peter Forsberg and Drury with under 12 minutes remaining, preserving the one-goal lead. "It's always important to get a win on the road but we also have to make sure we're not satisified with that," Nabokov said. "We got a little bit fortunate tonight and we have to tighten it up a bit." Marleau provided some breathing room, scoring his fourth goal of the playoffs with 7:26 left to make it 4-2. Using Bryan Muir as screen, Marleau skated into the high slot and let go a wrist shot through the defenseman's legs that seemed to fool Roy. Scott Thornton tallied his second postseason goal with 4:40 to play, making it 5-2. Just over a minute later, Forsberg scored his second playoff goal before defenseman Bryan Marchment sealed it for San Jose with an empty-net tally with six seconds remaining. "You can't affort to (panic)," Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote said. "There's a couple things we have to regroup on but it's no reason to panic. With what we saw in the second, there's no reason to panic." |
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