Andy McDonald scored twice in the second period and Dustin Penner potted the winner in the final frame as Anaheim edged Ottawa 3-2 to move to within one victory of a NHL championship.
Penner snapped a tie 4:07 into the third as the Ducks took a 3-1 lead on Monday in the best-of-seven championship.
McDonald scored two goals and set up another and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 21 saves for the Ducks, who can clinch the first Stanley Cup in franchise history today at the Anaheim arena.
PHOTO: AP
"These games get more intense every game," Ducks rising star Ryan Getzlaf said. "It feels great to be up 3-1. We have a great opportunity now and hopefully we can go home and grasp the [Stanley Cup]."
Getting the puck just outside of the blue line, Teemu Selanne carried down the right side as a two-on-one situation arose inside the offensive zone.
Heading toward the net, Penner was able to easily knock Selanne's pass into a vacant net at 4:07 as goaltender Ray Emery couldn't recover in time.
"Brad May was making a line change and the puck was just inside our own blueline," the 24-year-old Penner said.
"Teemu kind of fed me coming off the bench; when I was in the middle of the ice, I gave it back to him, then just drove the net and he put it right on my tape and I had an open net to put it in."
It was the first goal for Penner since Game 3 of the quarter-finals against Vancouver -- a span of 12 games.
He recorded his first points since that contest against the Canucks on Saturday, when he notched a pair of assists.
"That line was huge for us," Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer said. "It was a great game by Andy, Dustin and Teemu."
For the second time this post-season, Anaheim was able to survive without Norris Trophy finalist Chris Pronger, who was serving a one-game suspension for a high check on Ottawa's Dean McAmmond in Game 3.
The Ducks also posted a victory in game four of the semi-finals against Detroit as Pronger was banned from that contest for a blow to the head of Tomas Holmstrom in the previous game.
The Senators cashed in on a power play just before the first period ended to take the lead.
Peter Schaefer received the puck from Mike Fisher behind the net and quickly dished to captain Daniel Alfredsson, who fired it under the right arm of Giguere with 1.5 seconds remaining for his league-leading 12th goal of the postseason and a 1-0 edge.
The Ducks did not register their first shot of the game until the 11:25 mark.
The tide turned in the second period and McDonald was the main reason. After his chip shot from the doorstep hit the right elbow of the net at 2:48, McDonald evened the game at 10:06, just four seconds after Chris Neil's interference penalty expired.
It took McDonald just 60 seconds to put Anaheim ahead with his team-leading ninth playoff goal.
With no one standing in his path, McDonald slid a backhander between the pads of Emery at 11:06 for a 2-1 advantage.
"This game's over and we have to get ready for the next game," McDonald said. "I think the key will be in the first period for us. We came out, we didn't have a strong first tonight."
"Hopefully, we can use our fans in our own building to be a little bit extra motivated for that next game," he said. "And like I said, I'll enjoy it here for the next 10 minutes and start preparing for the next one."
Invisible over the first three games of the finals, Ottawa's Dany Heatley came through late in the period with the first even-strength goal of the series for Ottawa's No. 1 line and his second in 10 games.
Ottawa coach Bryan Murray knows his team has a daunting challenge in front of them.
"If we play like we did for two periods tonight, it's not very good," Murray said.
"Andy McDonald's goal, walking in and walking around our defense and the two-on-one goal," he said. "Those are not very good goals to give up at playoff time."
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS