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More success at home for Ducks would seal Stanley Cup

Jun 6, 2007 - 4:32 PM Ottawa at Anaheim 8:00 pm EDT Stanley Cup Finals Anaheim leads, 3-1

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) - After a big win on the road, the Anaheim Ducks are back in place that has led to a great deal of success.

The Ducks will try to continue their undefeated run at home in the Stanley Cup Finals and seal their first championship when they face the Ottawa Senators in Game Five on Wednesday.

Anaheim holds a commanding three-games-to-one lead in the series following Monday's 3-2 win at Ottawa. It was the first road win in six games over two appearances in the finals for Anaheim.

Despite being without suspended defenseman Chris Pronger, the Ducks overcame the loss of a one-goal lead in the second period, collecting the go-ahead goal on Dustin Penner's tally early in the third.

Now Anaheim returns to the Honda Center where it is 5-0 all-time in the finals and 7-0 when closing out a series, including 3-0 this postseason.

As if they were not facing enough in attempting to rally from the two-game deficit, the Senators will see Pronger return to the Ducks' stellar defensive corps.

"We get him back, and we feel good about having him back," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said about the defenseman. "All we want Chris Pronger to do is be Chris Pronger."

A finalist for the Norris Trophy this year, Pronger served his second one-game suspension on Monday after a hit to the head of Dean McAmmond in Saturday's Game Three loss.

Despite being penalized for a second time because of his aggressive play, Pronger does not expect himself to act any differently on the ice.

"You don't have time to think out there, you've got to react," Pronger said. "You've got to do what you do best and play the game the way you know how."

So far, Ottawa has not been at its best because the play of Pronger and Anaheim's stellar defense.

The second-highest scoring club in the regular season, the Senators have managed more than two goals just once, breaking out for five in Saturday's win.

The stellar top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza did find the net twice on Monday, but was stopped on the trio's other eight scoring attempts.

"Obviously, it's frustrating a little bit losing tight games, not scoring maybe as easy as we did the first couple of rounds," Spezza said. "We are working.

"But we have no time to really think about it, we have to turn this thing around."

If Ottawa can not turn it around, a team from the Sun Belt of the United States will win the Stanley Cup for the third straight time. A Canadian team has not won the NHL championship since Montreal in 1993.