Ilya Bryzgalov tied a 61-year-old National Hockey League rookie record with his third consecutive playoff shutout, and three of his Anaheim teammates scored in the Mighty Ducks' 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche Sunday.
Ryan Getzlaf opened the scoring in the first period, and Ruslan Salei and Joffrey Lupul added goals in the second.
Coming off a 5-0 win in the first game, the Ducks took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Denver.
PHOTO: AP
Bryzgalov, who had 22 saves in the victory, hasn't allowed a goal in 229 minutes, 42 seconds, replacing Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the Ducks' record book for scoreless minutes in the playoffs.
The 25-year-old Russian also has replaced Giguere -- the 2003 playoffs MVP -- as Anaheim's No. 1 goalie, getting the job in the first round against Calgary after Giguere was inconsistent.
Toronto's Frank McCool had three postseason shutouts in a row as a rookie in 1945.
Sharks 2, Oilers 1
At San Jose, California, San Jose captain Patrick Marleau scored his eighth goal of the postseason and added an assist on Christian Ehrhoff's go-ahead goal, leading the Sharks past Edmonton in Game 1 of the second-round series.
Rookie Milan Michalek had two assists and Vesa Toskala stopped 15 shots in his fifth consecutive victory for the Sharks, who took control of the series opener with a one-sided second period featuring Ehrhoff's first career playoff goal.
Jaroslav Spacek scored for Edmonton.
The US beat winless Denmark 3-0 Sunday with goals from Andrew Alberts, Yan Stastny and Richard Park to clinch a second-round berth at hockey's World Championship along with Canada, Finland and the Czech Republic.
Canada routed Norway 7-1 behind Sidney Crosby's goal and three assists to join the US into the next round from Group D with identical 2-0 records with one game left.
The Americans finish first-round play against Canada today.
The Czech Republic held on for a 5-4 win over Slovenia after jumping out to a 4-0 first-period lead, and Finland shut out host Latvia 5-0 in Group A games.
Coming off a 1-1 draw with Latvia, the favored Czechs improved to three points.
Finland combined tight penalty killing with a solid power play to blank Latvia and claim its place in the qualification round.
The Olympic silver medalists killed off two extended five-on-three Latvia power plays and scored three times with the man advantage.
Forward Tomi Kallio added a short-handed goal, stripping Latvian defenseman Atvars Tribuncovs at his own blue line, skating in alone on goalie Sergejs Naumovs, and calmly slotting the puck home at 15:02 of the second period.
That goal, which made it 2-0, helped break Latvia's spirit, Latvia coach Petr Vorobev said.
Jari Viuhkola, Ville Peltonen, Aki-Petteri Berg and Jani Rita also scored for Finland.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Tuomo Ruutu was ejected from the game at 6:57 of the first period for a vicious open ice hit on Latvian forward Mikelis Redlihs. Redlihs was treated on the ice but later returned to the game. The win sent Finland into the next round. Latvia must get at least a tie against Slovenia in its game Tuesday to advance.
The US win also avenged a shocking loss in the prelims to Denmark three years ago when the championship was held in Finland.
US goalie Craig Anderson, a backup with the Chicago Blackhawks this season, made 19 saves for the shutout. He gave up one goal in the opener against Norway.
"It was definitely an easy night," Anderson said. "I only had to make the first save, any rebound the defense cleared up and made great plays. We really played well together as a team tonight. So far it has worked fine for us in two games and we're going to try to do the same in the next game."
Dustin Brown, who had a hat trick against Norway, set up the opening goal for Alberts 33 seconds into the second period. Five minutes later, Stastny made it 2-0, knocking in a rebound past goalie Peter Hirsch.
Park notched the last goal midway through the third period. After Hirsch failed to clear the puck at his own end, Andy Hilbert picked up the loose puck along the boards and fed the unchecked Park in front.
Tomas Pleskanec scored 1:09 into the game, and power-play goals from Jaroslav Balastik, Martin Erat and Zbynek Michalek gave the Czechs a 4-0 lead.
But Slovenia, which played well in its opening 5-3 loss to Finland, clawed its way back to 4-2 on goals by Egon Muric and Mitja Sotlar.
Michalek's second of the game at 4:28 of the second period was the eventual winner, but the victory was far from comfortable.
Slovenia forward Ales Kranjs scored late in the second period and forward Tomas Razingar's power-play goal cut the lead to 5-4 with one second left in the game.
"The second half was tight and Slovenia showed why their 5-3 game against Finland was no mistake," Czech Republic coach Alois Hadamczik said.
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