The Ducks are on the Verge

The time just flies when I can't get an update done, so now this post will act as a review and a preview. Well, Monday night, the Senators had the chance to even up the series and make it interesting heading back to Anaheim. As you all know by now, they didn't quite seal the deal. It was a 3-2 loss and it looked a little something like this:

Time	Team	Goal Scorer	Assist
19:59 (1st)	OTT	Daniel Alfredsson (12)	Peter Schaefer (4)	Mike Fisher (4)
10:06 (2nd)	ANA	Andy McDonald (8)	Todd Marchant (3)	Corey Perry (8)
11:06 (2nd)	ANA	Andy McDonald (9)	Rob Niedermayer (5)	Sean O'Donnell (2)
18:00 (2nd)	OTT	Dany Heatley (7)	Patrick Eaves (2)	Jason Spezza (15)
4:07 (3rd)	ANA	Dustin Penner (3)	Teemu Selanne (10)	Andy McDonald (3)
	Team	Win	Saves
	ANA	J-S Giguere	21

Game Winning Goal Scorer
Dustin Penner's third goal of the playoffs proved to be the winner in Game 4... the crushing blow to the Senators' hopes to really make a name for themselves in these playoffs. Penner, only taken once in the pool, gave that lift to the Ducks when they needed it again... thanks to the one-game suspension of Chris Pronger. It wasn't necessarily a great goal to win it, a bad line change by the Senators really opened the door for the Ducks to come in and score that goal. Nor was it like Ray Emery was sharp the entire game anyways... the second Ducks goal by Andy McDonald was a bit of a softy. Out of his three goals so far in the playoffs, this was Penner's second game winner and he now has 10 points in this pool campaign.

Spotlight Player



At the beginning of the Finals, a lot of pundits and analysts were saying that if the Ducks were gonna succeed, they'd need more production from the big line, including Andy McDonald. Game 4 saw a big effort from Andy McDonald... a pair of goals and an assist for a big 3-point game. McDonald has had somewhat of a slow playoff season only registering a single point in both the Wild series and the Red Wings series, but in both this series and the games against the Canucks, he has put five points on the board. 12 points is nothing really to sneeze at and he should be a key ingredient to the Ducks success if they are to win the Cup in the next game or two... or three.


Well, this could be it tonight. The Senators will skate onto the pond tonight to try and keep their hopes alive for one more home game, but it's not gonna be easy. The return of Chris Pronger, the motivation of Daniel Alfredsson's shot at Scott Niedermayer and being undefeated at home in Stanley Cup Finals games should be more than enough motivation for the Ducks to wipe the floor with the Sens.

If that is the case, then we'll have ourselves a finish to the playoffs and pool tonight. Derek still holds a six point advantage over Don and wouldn't mind if the Sens could pull one more game out of the hat, just to ensure his victory. For Don to make up those six points, he'll need a J-S Giguere shutout and Teemu Selanne to score a hat-trick (or just a couple) with Scott Niedermayer having a big night as well. That's saying that the Kid Line doesn't see any goals or Chris Pronger doesn't register any assists. So, it can be done! But second isn't locked up either... Dale would need a Senator win with some secondary scoring leading the way to pass Don, as they both have the same Ducks and Dany Heatley. Doesn't seem quite as likely, but it certainly isn't impossible.

It's gonna be a doozy of a finish tonight... I'm just glad I get to watch it. The Sens are 1-0 in this series when I get to watch a full game... so hopefully that trend continues!

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