The Daily Sniper: Insert Duck Related Pun Here

The Daily Sniper: News and notes from last night's action

The first game of the 2007 Finals turned out to be a dandy in Anaheim last night. The Senators jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first two minutes, which was a 2-1 margin at the second intermission. The Ducks would shut the door in the third, led by the play checking line of Rob Niedermayer, Sammy Pahlsson and Travis Moen. The trio was matched up against the Sens top line (Heatley-Spezza-Alfreddson) all night, and helped in limiting Ottawa's trio to only five shots on goal. Ryan Getzlaf tied the game during the fifth minute of the third and Moen would add the eventual game winner at the 17:09 mark, leading the Ducks to a come from behind 3-2 victory. Sens fans seem to be taking this pretty well. There don't appear to be too many "chicken littles" north of the border, and rightfully so. A loss on the road to begin a series isn't the end of the world. From Battle of Ontario: "You can sure hear the neophyte fan coming through loud and clear on the Team post-game show. They lose one game and you want to break Alfie off that top line? The perils of big bandwagonism I guess. Relax - they'll hit the stationary bikes, have a look at the tape and come out flying in G2."

Ray Emery made more saves than J.S. Giguere, but got the loss. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Out of Left Field is quick to let this one slide:

"Let's chalk this one to the layoff. The Senators sat at home with nothing to do but read for nine straight days in Ottawa’s dailies the greatest adulation ever given to players who, lest we had all foolishly forgotten, hadn’t won anything but a ticket to the show."

And across the continent, over at On the Pond:

"When this writer arrived home, even the local ducks who take up residence at the community pool were quacking loudly as if celebrating with their on ice brethren. This is the first time that the Senators have lost the first game in a series during this post season and they have never trailed in a series until now, even if they are down only 1 - 0 in the best of seven series."

We can only hope that Game two on Wednesday is just as good as the first edition. And did I mention neither Versus nor CBC interrupted the game with horse racing or election coverage?