Lord Stanly give us your cup

Stanley Cup Final: Anaheim Ducks vs. Ottawa Senators
NHL.com Staff
May 23, 2007, 9:44 AM EDT

SERIES BREAKDOWN:Schedule Game Breakers X Factors Facts Quotable Crystal Ball
The Skinny
There will no lack of star power as the Anaheim Ducks and the Ottawa Senators clash in the Stanley Cup Final with each franchise looking for its first Stanley Cup title.
Anaheim, the second seed in the West, rode the brilliant goaltending of J.S. Giguere, the minute-eating brilliance of stud defensemen Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer and the clutch scoring of Teemu Selanne to return to the Stanley Cup Final four years after the franchise's only other trip -- a seven-game loss to the New Jersey Devils in 2003.
Ottawa, meanwhile, used a rampaging top line -- featuring established star and team captain Daniel Alfredsson paired with young center Jason Spezza and winger Dany Heatley, the equally young sniper with back-to-back 50-goal seasons on his resume, to fire its way into the first Stanley Cup Final appearance for the franchise in its modern incarnation. Second-year goalie Ray Emery, meanwhile, is making a name for himself on the postseason stage, much in the same way Giguere did back in 2003.
Most likely, the series will play out just as the series' stars are aligned, as well. The quick-skating, fundamentally sound Senators are a solid two-way team, but has been surprisingly one-dimensional in the attacking zone, riding the exploits of its big line to five-game triumphs against Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Buffalo. Heatley leads the playoffs with 21 points. Spezza has 20 points and Alfredsson has a team-high 10 goals and 17 points to rank second and third on the overall playoff scoring chart.
Defensemen Wade Redden and Joe Corvo, with eight points apiece, are the next-highest scorers on the Ottawa roster.
Anaheim, on the other hand, has shown itself to be a balanced offensive team that occasionally struggled to find goals in dispatching Minnesota, Vancouver and Detroit. The Ducks boast nine players with at least three goals and no player with more than five. But the Western Conference champs can get away with a sometime-anemic offense because of the brilliance of their elite defensemen and the steadiness of Giguere, already a proven playoff commodity after winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the losing goalie in the 2003 Final.
Like the past three Stanley Cup Final showdowns, which all went seven games, the 2007 Stanley Cup Final matchup between Anaheim and Ottawa appears to be so evenly matched that this series could go either way on the turn of just one play.
As a result, it will be interesting, to say the least. It promises to be physical. And, it will be filled with enough star power to illuminate the entire hockey world.
Anaheim Game Breakers

PRONGERChris Pronger – The second-highest scoring defenseman in the tournament -- only Nicklas Lidstrom of the eliminated Detroit Red Wings had more points than Pronger's 14 -- Pronger is putting his stamp on the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second-straight spring. Last year, Pronger was the catalyst, at both ends of the ice, during Edmonton's surprising run to Game 7 of the Final. This year, he is reprising that role in his first season with the Ducks. Nobody in these playoffs plays more than Pronger, who is averaging more than 31 minutes per game and nobody, it seems, does as much. Pronger is on the first power-play unit, he is a primary penalty killer and he plays the bulk of his five-on-five time against top forwards from the other team. He is also the catalyst for Anaheim's attack in the offensive zone, passing or shooting as he sees fit.

GIGUEREJ.S. Giguere – The Anaheim goalie won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2003 by playing brilliantly as the then-Mighty Ducks made a mighty surprising run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against New Jersey. Giguere has been just as good, if not better, in this postseason. Since re-assuming the starting job midway through the first round, Giguere has done nothing, it seems, but win. He has won nine of 12 decisions while posting laudatory numbers comparable to the stats that made him MVP four years ago. At 5-on-5, Giguere has been nearly unbeatable, allowing just 12 even-strength goals in 11 starts. Plus, Giguere's experience on the Stanley Cup Final stage should give him an early advantage over Ottawa goalie Ray Emery, who has posted similar numbers to Giguere through the first three rounds.

SELANNETeemu Selanne – "The Finnish Flash" has been a streaky scorer throughout his career and fortunately for the Ducks he appears to be entering the Stanley Cup Final on another one of his patented hot streaks. Selanne closed out the Western Conference Finals with points in the final three games. During that stretch, he had two goals -- including the pivotal overtime winner in Game 5 -- and four assists. That strong finishing kick put to rest complaints about a four-game run without points that began at the end of the second round against Vancouver. The overtime goal in Game 5 against Detroit was his second game-winning goal of this postseason, and the eighth in a 81-game postseason career. The Senators will have to account for his whereabouts at all times.Ottawa Game Breakers

EMERYRay Emery – Finally, his game and his ability have caught up to his flashy style and brash personality. Emery isn’t the backup anymore and the 24-year-old has used these playoffs as his own personal coming out party, growing into a formidable No. 1 goaltender over the course of the last three weeks. In the opening round he beat Pittsburgh’s Marc Andre Fleury. In the second round, he out-played Martin Brodeur. In the conference finals, Ryan Miller was next in line as Emery’s made Ottawa look like the team to beat this spring. With a 12-3 record in the tournament with a 1.95 GAA and .919 save-percentage, Emery could be the key to Ottawa winning the first Stanley Cup.

ALFREDSSONDaniel Alfredsson – The captain leads by example, and what an example he’s set so far in the playoffs. Long gone are the days when Alfie would get booed by the home crowd, just as when the Senators were playoff patsies is also ancient history. Alfredsson is on his way to winning a Conn Smyth as playoff MVP, leading all playoff scorers with four game-winning goals, including the biggest one in Ottawa’s history when he scored in overtime of Game 5 against the Sabres to send his team to their first Stanley Cup Finals. Did we mention his line has been equally impressive at the defensive end?

HEATLEYDany Heatley – Back-to-back 50-goal seasons was only a warm-up for Heatley, who leads all playoff scorers with 21 points in 15 games. One-third of Ottawa’s vaunted top line with Alfredsson and Jason Spezza, Heatley is the triggerman of the trio, but tied for the team lead at plus-7 in the tournament, he’s also defensively responsible. Head coach Bryan Murray has not hesitated to put Heatley’s line against any opponent, in any situation. Big, fast and strong, Heatley will be a lot to handle as he plays for his first Stanley Cup.
X Factors

PAHLSSONSamuel Pahlsson -- Barely mentioned because of the big stars that populate the Anaheim roster, Pahlsson may just be the cog that makes this team go. But he will be noticed in the Stanley Cup Final. As the team's checking-line center, he will be at the forefront of the Ducks' game plan to slow down Ottawa's rampaging top line of center Jason Spezza and wingers Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson. Sure, Pahlsson will get help from his linemates -- Travis Moen and Rob Niedermayer -- and the all-star defensemen Anaheim features; but Pahlsson will assume the lion's share of the responsibility. He has proven to be capable of handling such a workload, though. Not only is Pahlsson up for the Selke Award as the League's best defensive forward in the regular season, but he has already helped derail the top lines from Minnesota, Vancouver and Detroit.

SPEZZAJason Spezza – If Heatley is the sniper, then Spezza is the playmaker of the group. Right behind his teammate for the playoff scoring lead, Spezza’s checked in with 20 points in 15 games between Heatley and Alfredsson on the top line. "The Spezz Dispenser" has 13 assists in the playoffs and presents an interesting dilemma for opposing coaches, because if you concentrate too much on Heatley and Alfredsson, Spezza has the skill set to take games over. Though he might not be the most physical player on the ice, the 23-year old isn’t going to take any penalties. In the open ice, he can make any defenseman look silly.