Rested Sens to take on young Ducks

Garry Hubert of Yellowknife, Canada, and his son Zak, 8, display their tickets for the Anaheim Ducks' home games against the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup Finals at the Honda Center box office in Anaheim, California, on Saturday. The arena's allotment of tickets sold out in about 45 minutes. The best-of-seven series against the Ottawa Senators will be begin today. PHOTO: AP

The high-flying Ottawa Senators will be raring to go after a prolonged eight-day rest. The Anaheim Ducks are looking to take advantage of their youth and toughness.

Anaheim, which beat the Detroit Red Wings in six games in the semi-finals, will host the first game of the National Hockey League's championship series today.

Anaheim are making their second Stanley Cup finals appearance in four years. In their only other Stanley Cup finals, they lost to New Jersey Devils in the deciding seventh game in 2003.

"It is not good enough for us to get there. We want to win," Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said.

This is the first Stanley Cup finals for Ottawa in franchise history. Ottawa has struggled to reach the showcase series the past few years despite consistently being one of the top seeds in the playoffs.

"We've beaten the three best teams in the East and now we are going to face the West," Ottawa forward Jason Spezza said. "If you are going to do it, you might as well go through the best."

"What we are thinking is that we have got to make four more wins for our season to make sense. We know we are in for a tough series."

Brian Burke, Anaheim Ducks general manager

The finals features the top team from the East meeting the best in the West. Because of the NHL's unbalanced schedule, Ottawa and Anaheim did not play each other during the regular season.

Ottawa eliminated Buffalo in the other semi-final. After one of the longest breaks leading up the Stanley Cup finals in NHL history, they are finally getting back on the ice.

The start of the final was delayed because of a three-day ice skating show at the Honda Center facility.

The two teams have faced each other just once since 2003, with Anaheim winning that contest in January last year at Ottawa in a shootout. The winning goal was scored by forward Chris Kunitz, who is sidelined for the Stanley Cup finals with a broken hand.

Patrick Lalime made 30 saves for the shutout.

What these two teams do have in common is a strong link to the hockey-crazed country of Canada.

While Ottawa is considered Canada's team and will have the entire country cheering them on, Anaheim actually has more Canadians on their roster. A total of 19 of Anaheim's 28 players are from Canada.

The Ducks are the more physical team and the most penalized club in the playoffs with 96 penalties.

But they can't afford to take penalties against Ottawa, which boasts the second-best powerplay in the playoffs.

"Our players have been able to make whatever adjustments they have needed," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. "The difference from everybody else we have played is [Anaheim's] size. We just have to make sure we make them skate a lot and don't give them a second chance in our own end."

Both clubs have a lot of depth in their forward lines but Ottawa has what is considered the best scoring trio in the league in Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Spezza.

Anaheim will counter with its "Kid Line" of Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner and Corey Perry. Both Perry and Getzlaf turned 22 earlier this month and Penner is just 24.

"What we are thinking is that we have got to make four more wins for our season to make sense," Ducks general manager Brian Burke said. "We know we are in for a tough series."

"Ottawa has got the best line in hockey and a great coach," he said. "It is going to be a battle. They are playing as well now as any team in the league has played all season."

Anaheim's leader throughout the post-season is Finnish player Teemu Selanne, who is appearing in his first finals in his 15th season.

"This is a very special moment for me," Selanne said. "I am going to enjoy every moment of this."

Anaheim's defense includes superstars Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, who are considered two of the top rearguards in the world. Ottawa's defense may not be as well known, but it is deep in talent with Chris Phillips, Wade Redden and Anton Volchenkov.

Three-time Stanley Cup champion Niedermayer is playing in his first final with his brother Rob as a teammate.

They competed against each other in 2003 finals when Scott was with New Jersey and Rob in Anaheim.

"To get to compete together for the Stanley Cup final is more than we ever dreamed about," Scott said. "It has been a lot of fun playing together. Growing up in Canada and being only 16 months apart we were together all the time and had the same group of friends."

Rob has been to the Stanley Cup finals twice without winning. When Scott brought the Stanley Cup trophy back to their family home in Cranbrook for a few days, Rob refused to go near it. Hockey players believe that it is bad luck to even have anything to do with the Cup if you haven't won it before.

"Every time he [Scott] brought it home, I never touched it," Rob said. "Even with three Stanley Cups."

"He has always been there for me and cheered me on," Rob said. "He never rubbed anything in my face. He has been a great brother."