Down 3-1 in the Stanley Cup finals , the Ottawa Senators aren’t about to give up the ship. While Senators players look for a rally tonight in California, oddsmakers don’t expect the same. Sportsbook.com shows the Anaheim Ducks as a -180 money line favorite to win Game-5 and the Stanley Cup after the puck drops at 8 p.m. ET.
“It’s a big hole (being down 3-1) , but it’s not something that’s insurmountable,” Ottawa center Jason Spezza says. “We just have to worry about chipping away one game at a time. We can’t worry about trying to win the series. We have to worry about wining a game first.”
Only one team in NHL history , the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, has come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Stanley Cup final. That doesn’t concern Senators forward Mike Fisher too much.
“No, we’re not going to worry about that,” Fisher says. “I think our focus now is Anaheim and trying to put that behind us. It’s going to be tough in Anaheim. They played well there. We just have to go in there on a mission, be relentless, give it everything we’ve got and not worry about history. Just worry about winning games.”
In Game-4 Andy McDonald scored twice in the second period and Dustin Penner put the Ducks on top 3-2 just 4:07 into the third. They held off the Senators the rest of the way with the help of several mammoth J.S. Giguere saves. The goalie had 21 on the night, and the Ducks defense held Ottawa to just 10 shots over the final two periods after they had 13 in the first.
“I don’t think we want to get used to playing without Chris, but we realize when he’s not there, we have to be at our best and do our jobs,” said Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer. “We did that over the last two periods and did the things we have to do to have success.”
Pronger was suspended a game after his blow to the head of Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond in Game 3. McAmmond, feeling the effects of his head injury that sent him out of that game, did not suit up. Anaheim’s Chris Kunitz also didn’t play after suffering an abdominal bruise in Game 3, his first game of the series after sitting out with a hand injury.
According to Sportsbook.com, the early betting trend shows 87% of money line wagers placed on the Ducks while 61% favor the UNDER 5 on the total.
