Game 2 In The Books

Memo to the Ottawa Senators: Nobody serious is accusing you of being soft anymore. We get that you won't be physically intimidated, runover, and run out of buildings in the playoffs. We get that. You don't have to prove it to us anymore.

From watching the game last night it seemed to me that Ottawa had two big problems. First they came out and tried to beat Anaheim at their own game. Ottawa isn't going to do that because Ottawa is not built for the hit-everything-that-moves game. Once again that's not to say that Ottawa is bunch of lightweights, but they have to play their game if they expect to beat Anaheim. Because the Senators tried to play the Thug Ducks game, the Senators were unable to take advantage when the game settled in during the second period. While the pace of the first period that carried over from Game 1 was fun to watch, you knew that the two teams could not keep up that breakneck pace. Ottawa looked gassed because they had been running around trying to hit everything in black. Hopefully with the extra day of rest and home ice advantage, they'll be better able to play their game.

Secondly, despite not playing their game, Ottawa didn't get any bounces or breaks last night. They missed all sorts of wide open nets and at this stage of the season, that will come back to haunt you more often than not. The Senators should have two maybe even three goals despite being brutally outshot by the Thug Ducks.

Now the series shifts to Ottawa and the Senators face two must win games. If Ottawa does not win both Games 3 and 4 on home ice this Stanley Cup Finals is all over except for the shouting. I hope for the sake of sheer entertainment value that the Senators can tie the series up and make it more interesting but I think it should be pretty clear now who is going to win the Cup and it happens to be the Anaheim Thug Ducks.