Stanley Cup proving elusive for struggling Senators

By Randall Palmer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Confessing they had their backs to the wall, a desperate Ottawa Senators hockey team flew to southern California on Tuesday to try to keep alive their first shot at the Stanley Cup in 80 years.

History is on the side of the Anaheim Ducks, who lead the finals 3-1 and who have two of the possible remaining three games in the best-of-seven series at home.

The last and only time a team came back from such a deficit in a Cup finals was during World War Two, the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942. Over the years, all other 27 teams who trailed 3-1 have lost.

"Yeah, backs against the wall," said Ottawa forward Dany Heatley, who so far this series has managed only one goal in Monday night's 3-2 loss to the Ducks.

"We can't look at the past. We can't look at the history. We can't look at the odds. It's all about one game at a time from now, just stealing one on the road, getting it back in our building, going from there."

Anaheim, however, are like none of the teams the Senators defeated en route to becoming Eastern Conference champs.

Their defense is physical and tight while the Ducks have also been able to move fast as when Dustin Penner scored the game winner on Monday in a 2-on-1 break.

It all depends on whether the Senators play like Monday night's first period, when they outshot the Ducks 13-2, or the remaining two periods, when they were outgunned 19-10 with the Ducks throwing in three goals to the Senators' one.

"You can never relax. Ottawa's a good team. They're going to be desperate. We're going to have to throw everything we have at them," said goalie J.S. Giguere, a veteran of the 2003 finals when his Ducks lost to New Jersey in the seventh game.

But the Ducks have never lost a game on home ice during the Stanley Cup finals and Giguere's caution was full of confidence.

"If we play Ducks hockey like we played in the last two periods...we're going to be tough to beat," he said.

Besides the home-ice advantages, Anaheim will get a boost from the return of defense anchor Chris Pronger from a one-game suspension for knocking out Ottawa's Dean McAmmond with his elbow.

Ottawa won the cup 11 times from 1903 to 1927 before the team were moved in the 1930s and then disbanded. This is their first finals since reconstitution in 1992. If the Ducks prevail, it will be the first time they hoist the Cup.