Oh, Canada: Ducks just plain better than Sens

OTTAWA -- Listen closely now and you'll hear it.

Pfffffffft. It's the sound of the life being sucked out of the Ottawa Senators.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere is at the top of his game in the Finals. (Getty Images)

Stick a fork in them now, because they are done in these Stanley Cup Finals. It's over for Ottawa and not just because they suffered a crushing 3-2 defeat against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 4 or that they have to go back to Anaheim trailing the series 3-1. That would be tough enough considering how badly Ottawa was outplayed last week in Anaheim by a Ducks team that is almost impossible to beat in its own building.

The bigger problem for the Senators? It threw everything it had at the Ducks, and it still wasn't enough.

The reality is that Anaheim is simply a better team right now. Perhaps the only reason this series hasn't been decided is that the Ducks like to make things tougher than necessary.

Anaheim pays the price at times, and the penalties it took in the first period probably would have done it in had goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere not been at his absolute best, but the Ducks never seem to let games get away from them, and with the talent and tenacity that are the hallmarks of their lineup, they still find ways to win.

"When we play Ducks hockey, we're pretty tough to beat," said Giguere.

Giguere doesn't have to tell that to the Senators after they dropped a game they just had to have, especially since all the elements were in place for Ottawa to make this a real series. Anaheim's superstar defenseman Chris Pronger was sitting out a suspension, the Ducks were reeling from one of their worst efforts of the postseason and the Senators were riding the wave of the momentum that has permeated this city and the team since its emotional win in Game 3.

And at the outset, it looked like it would be enough. Ottawa came out on fire and for the first period, had the Ducks back on their heels and generally looking over their shoulders. The Senators were fast, physical and furious for the most part, with the bad blood still clearly lingering.

Ultimately, though, it did not do them much good. While Ottawa was outshooting the Ducks by a 13-2 count in the opening frame and keeping the visitors from getting their first shot until the 12-minute mark, it took a weak clearing effort by Anaheim to let the Senators go ahead on Daniel Alfredsson's power-play goal with only three-tenths of a second remaining in the period.

"I think we were basically doing the same things we did in Game 3 in the first period, taking penalties and not making good decisions in our own end with the puck," said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer. "Being down only one goal, we felt a bit lucky, but we managed to regroup because there was no option at that point. We had to come out and bet a lot better."

They were. Much better, in fact, and Anaheim simply took the play away from a Senators team that seemed like it had run out of energy after the first period.

"We started to break down," said Ottawa coach Bryan Murray, whose team was outshot 13-4 in the second period. "They made a little adjustment in the second and we started forcing the play, but other than that there was no reason to play like we did in the second period."

That's when the game -- and the series, for all intents and purposes -- was lost. Anaheim's Andy McDonald scored a pair of goals, one when he faked goaltender Ray Emery out of position and another when he had defenseman Anton Volchenkov down and out.

Still, the teams finished the period tied 2-2 because Ottawa's Dany Heatley connected for the first time in the series with two minutes remaining, but by that point the score really wasn't an accurate reflection of what was taking place on the ice, including the emotions that were starting to spill over.

As the period ended, Alfredsson fired the puck directly at Niedermayer, catching the Ducks captain by surprise and nearly sparking a brawl as the teams headed to the dressing rooms. The officials managed to maintain order, but the Ducks responded with another strong period, getting the winner when Dustin Penner converted a two-on-one pass from Teemu Selanne a little more than four minutes in and then shutting the door on Ottawa, likely for good.

"Has it sunk in?" Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We know we've got a 3-1 lead, but the reality is the next one is going to be the toughest one to win. We can enjoy this for 10 minutes, but then the preparation starts for the next one."

And a Stanley Cup parade.