ALLARD: SENATORS WERE ONLY MIGHTY UNTIL BUMPING INTO DUCKS

Jean-Pierre Allard delivers the post-mortem following the Senators' season-ending 6-2 loss to the Ducks in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.

If one of Senators GM John Muckler's counterparts ever offers him an even-up trade in which two entire rosters change addresses, he should take it without hesitation.

Even if Columbus or Toronto came calling. Just kidding.

In all my 45 years of watching Stanley Cup finals, never have I seen a finalist like the Ottawa Senators play such horrible hockey that by the bitter end, it could easily be argued that there's not one single untouchable on its roster.

That's right. No one.

The question has to be asked. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now.

How can a team that walks over three teams in 15 ridiculously easy games suddenly lose to another in five even easier games? Before we give too much credit to Anaheim who is a solid team and far more superior to any Eastern team that Ottawa beat this spring, let's not overlook the fact that the Senators played their worst hockey at the most important time.

As impressive as Ottawa was in the first three rounds, and as reassuring as this long playoff run was for everyone, the bottom line is the Senators, once again, failed to accomplish their objective, which is to win the Stanley Cup. And in so doing, they didn't even compete, looking totally outmatched. It was only the third time in the past nine finals that it was over in five games or less, meaning the Senators are lumped in with the 1998 Capitals and 2002 Hurricanes.
Why?

The coach and players seemingly have no answers, nor does the media that follows the team. I'm not sure management knows what hit them and the fans certainly are at a loss to explain how this bunch of tigers morphed into pussycats against a bunch of Ducks who, in classic irony, dropped the moniker Mighty before the season.

Ottawa simply could not compete for the very same reasons that I've alerted readers: Lack of a genuine No. 1 goalie, four extremely soft defencemen and too many dispy-doodling forwards, including the big line that disappeared in the short series the second the bigger and meaner Anaheim players started hitting them.

(Interlude: CP's report card put it best: "Has anyone seen Jason Spezza?")

Will my accusers finally believe me? Likely not. But it's not like I didn't try and warn everyone when they started getting all excited when Ottawa turned their season around in January.

I also repeatedly wrote that Brian McGrattan was the key to Ottawa winning the Cup this year and while they sure didn't need him in the three easy series, we'll never know if he would have been good for a dirty goal here or there, just like I thought he could have helped last year against Buffalo. At the very least, he could have lit a fire under these guys' fannies.
Interesting that Don Cherry also chimed in with basically the same reasoning just last week, even adding that he could teach him how to play and improve his game.

Last night was all anticlimax. It was over after 20 minutes when the Ducks went ahead 2-0, despite a crazy second period that saw four goals scored, three in the last 4 minutes of the period. Of those last three, the first one, credited to Travis Moen, turned out to be the game-winner and was actually scored by Ottawa when Ray Emery and Chris Phillips combined on a play that will likely go down as the biggest gaffe in playoff history since Steve Smith scored on his own net in 1986, depriving the Oilers of a chance to duplicate the Habs' feat of five straight Cup wins.

The first period had far too many chintzy penalties and far too few shots, with Ottawa managing the paltry total of three in a do-or-die game. The second period was a comedy of errors and sub-standard goaltending. The Senators who showed tremendous character in increasing their shot output by two for a grand total of eight across the first 40 minutes.

By then, I was thinking, give me my money back and all the time I've invested since mid-September. Definitely not my idea of a classic. Next year, I swear I'll do like most Sens' fans with the red sweaters and only start watching in April.

Be red, all right. Be very red indeed.

For that and everything else that the mighty Anaheim Ducks accomplished, I say congratulations on a splendid effort. Ottawa's management, whoever they may be -- are you reading this, Eugene Melnyk? -- will be buying the DVD for their viewing pleasure during those long hours at the cottage, or while duck-hunting at the many marshes and swamps that grace our city.

The one who prematurely staged a celebration before the Cup final, when zilch had been won, and who just got snookered by the eight-ball.