Heading into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Ottawa Senators were filled with optimism that they could even the series at two games apiece. With Norris Trophy finalist Chris Pronger suspended for the game — and the Ducks forced to go on with the ill-equipped trio of Ric Jackman, Kent Huskins, and Joe DiPenta in his place — a momentum shift in the Senators’ favor seemed inevitable.

Indeed, the Sens came out swarming in the first period of Game 4, outshooting the Ducks 13–2 to “win” a period outright for the first time in the series. But just as Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere saved the Ducks’ bacon when Pronger was suspended for Game 4 of their Western Conference Finals series with the Detroit Red Wings, he did so again on Monday night. Giguere turned away all but one Ottawa shot in the first period as the Senators’ dominant effort yielded nothing more than a tenuous 1–0 lead.

Predictably, the Ducks were fortified by Giguere’s otherworldly performance, and they took control of the game in the second stanza. When all was said and done, the Ducks came away with a 3–2 victory and a 3–1 series lead. Although the final score in Game 4 seemed close, in truth the Senators were completely outclassed during the final two periods, in more ways than one.

For even with Pronger sitting in the press box, and the Ducks clanging four point-blank shots off the goal posts behind Ray Emery, the Senators were unable to prevail in a must-win situation. And given the good fortune bestowed upon the Sens in their Game 3 victory it’s fair to say that the team will be lucky to have escaped this series without being swept.

To make matters worse for the Ottawa club, the Senators’ integrity came into question at the end of the second period of Game 4. Captain Daniel Alfredsson was skating the puck up the ice just as the clock counted down to zero. Instead of allowing time to expire or firing a long-distance shot at the Ducks’ goal, as is customary, Alfredsson blasted the puck at unsuspecting Anaheim captain Scott Niedermayer. Niedermayer wasn’t harmed, but it was a clear sign the Senators were coming completely unglued.

No doubt playing against these Ducks must be extraordinarily frustrating. The Ducks are relentlessly aggressive even as they remain rock-solid positionally. The team’s style hearkens back to the Devils at their steadiest and most infuriating, and with Giguere providing a formidable last line of defense just as Brodeur did for those Devils, these Ducks (even without Pronger in the lineup) are proving to be a perfectly assembled playoff team.

Tonight the Ducks get Pronger back and it’s highly unlikely that the team will spoil a glorious opportunity to celebrate with Lord Stanley’s cherished chalice on their home ice at the Honda Center.

For the Niedermayer brothers, Scott and Rob, it will make up for the bittersweet experience they had as rivals in the 2003 Finals. During that series, Mrs. Niedermayer was rooting for younger son Rob; Scott had already carried the Cup twice with the Devils. But this time around, her loyalty isn’t divided: elder brother Scott, the Ducks’ only Cup-winner, is showing his brother and 18 other teammates the path to glory.

For Teemu Selanne, it will likely be the final game of his NHL career, a chance to celebrate with the fans in perhaps the only place that has felt like home to him since he was dealt away from the Winnipeg Jets on a tearful day in 1996. Selanne has enjoyed a brilliant resurgence in the past two seasons with the Ducks, and it’s quite probable that he’ll take this opportunity to leave on top and call it quits on what is unquestionably a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

And for Giguere, there will likely be a second Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, coming one again at the best possible time where his career is concerned. The last time Giguere won the Conn Smythe (in a losing cause for the Ducks in 2003), it earned him a four-year, $19.5 million contract. This time, he can expect a substantial raise, because if he doesn’t re-sign with Anaheim prior to July 1, the bidding war for his services will likely approach, if not exceed, $7 million per year.

Would the Ducks risk entering the 2007–08 season without their star netminder? The very same scenario played out for the Tampa Bay Lightning after their 2004 Cup victory, and the departure of starting goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is still plaguing them. It’s unlikely that the Ducks will make the same mistake. The dynamic defense duo of Niedermayer and Pronger combined with Giguere between the pipes all but guarantees that Anaheim will be Cup contenders for at least two or three more seasons to come.

But if Giguere decides he wants to test the free agent market — look for numerous teams to vie for his services. Perhaps the most compelling suitor of all would be the Los Angeles Kings, miffed that their cross-town rivals — 26 years their junior — were first to capture the Cup. The Kings’ biggest weakness last season was their injuryriddled goaltending corps, so pilfering Giguere from the Ducks would simultaneously fill that hole and ignite Tinseltown’s budding hockey rivalry into a raging bonfire.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.