Denver ? Teemu Selanne ended his playoff slump by scoring twice, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 27 shots as the San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Selanne, who led the Sharks with 29 goals during the regular season, had not scored in the playoffs.

San Jose took an early lead, withstood a rally from the defending Stanley Cup champions and put it away with two goals in 2:46 of the third period.

Colorado, which finished a physical seven-game series against Los Angeles just two nights earlier, was sluggish. And defenseman Rob Blake, Colorado’s second-leading scorer during the regular season, did not play due to a leg injury. Avalanche officials listed him as day-to-day.

San Jose’s Mike Ricci took advantage, scoring 6:13 into the game after a feed by Niklas Sundstrom from behind the net slipped through the crease. Patrick Roy couldn’t reach the pass with his stick and Ricci one-timed it past him as Ricci was falling.

Selanne made it 2-0, beating Roy to the glove side with a hard shot from the right faceoff dot after beating Greg de Vries into the Colorado zone.