Thursday, May 31, 2007

Ottawa Gets Blanked, Goes Down 2-0


Yesterday, the Ottawa Senators were facing the Ducks in game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. They had to win, or they would go down 2-0.

The 1st 2 periods of the game went scoreless. But it seemed Anaheim had the advantage in momentum. In the 3rd, both teams were still having troubles scoring. But with about 6 minutes left in the game, Samuel Pahlsson scored with a shot in between the defence man's legs. Ottawa couldn't come back from that as the Ducks took game 2 1-0 and lead the series 2-0.

After the game, Pahlsson talked about his goal. ''I shot it through the legs of the defenceman and somehow it went in,'' said Pahlsson. ''The most important thing is to win the game but of course it's great to score the goal.''

This game was much more physical than the last one, where the Ducks controlled the physical play. ''We knew that if we just continued to play the same way we were and get pucks in deep, keep playing physical and cycling the puck . . . we were getting a lot of chances and getting traffic in front,'' said Pronger. ''We were bound to get one by them.''

The story of the series so far is the lack of offence from Ottawa's top line. For the 2nd straight game, Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson were held off the score sheet. Bryan Murray split up the line for the beginning of the game, but later put them back together. Emery must be frustrated that he only allowed 1 goal, and he lost the game.

But now, the games shift to Ottawa, where they have the last change which will help Ottawa immensely. 'We've won our two home games and, let's face it, you're supposed to win your home games,'' said Anaheim defenceman Chris Pronger. ''Now it's in their court.''

Ottawa will look to become the 2nd team in NHL history to win the cup when losing the 1st 2 games at the other teams arena.

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