Ducks this close to Cup

Superstition has it that no one should touch it until one has rightfully earned it. And in the Ducks’ case, they didn’t want to talk about it, although they couldn’t avoid the subject.

It, of course, is the Stanley Cup.

The hallowed silver chalice will be sitting in the Honda Center tonight as the Ducks, on the brink of their first championship, take on the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 of the finals holding a 3-1 series lead.

Anticipation poured through the arena Tuesday as the Ducks arrived home knowing that, with a victory tonight, they can be the first California team to win the Cup and, in the process, deny a Canadian team its first Cup since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Kings in 1993.

The famed trophy either will make an appearance at center ice at the end of the tonight’s game or will be flown to Ottawa for Game 6 on Saturday.

The Ducks want the Cup to stop here.

“We all realize what’s at stake and what’s sitting in front of us,” defenseman Chris Pronger said. “It’s up to us to grab it.”

The Ducks put themselves in an enviable spot with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Monday in Ottawa as Andy McDonald scored two goals, Dustin Penner put in the game-winner in the third period and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made it stand up with a 21-save performance.

The Game 4 victory came despite the absences of Pronger, who was suspended by the NHL for the second time in these playoffs, and of Chris Kunitz, who had returned from an injury -- a broken hand -- to play in Game 3 only to suffer a new injury before the second period was even halfway through.

But the Ducks are often at their best when the situation is dire. The win was their 12th one-goal victory of the postseason, which tied the NHL record set by their 2003 team that reached the finals and those 1993 Canadiens.

“We’ve responded to being challenged in that respect a number of times this year,” Pronger said.

The Senators have lost all three games by a goal and must try to do the almost impossible. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs remain the only NHL team to come back from a 3-0 deficit (against Detroit) to win the Cup.

“It’s frustrating losing tight games and not scoring maybe as easy as we did the first couple of rounds,” Ottawa center Jason Spezza said. “We are working. But we have no time to really think about it. We have to turn this thing around.”

With the Ducks only one win away, the thought of hoisting the Cup is almost useless to ignore. Still, they tried their best to do just that Tuesday.

“It’s very tough,” Penner said. “But the coaching staff has addressed that. And we’ve addressed it ourselves.”

It would be a landmark championship for a number of reasons.

No team west of Denver has won the Stanley Cup in the modern era. Only five teams from this side of the Rocky Mountains have even played for it since the NHL assumed control of the grueling tournament in 1927.

You have to trace back to the 1925 Victoria Cougars for the last champion out of the Pacific time zone. But those facts are merely distractions in the view of Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle.

“We discussed that last night and discussed it today,” he said. “We’ll discuss it again. We understand we have a responsibility to the media. We understand we have a responsibility to your friends and family, but we have to be selfish.

“We have to focus on the one task at hand and that’s playing the best hockey game we can possibly play.”

It is certain the Ducks will follow the direction of Scott Niedermayer, who has been their emotional compass and unquestioned leader since being named captain when he arrived in August 2005. He is also the one man on the team who has won the Cup, three times with the New Jersey Devils.

And the latest, clearest example of Niedermayer’s steely focus came Monday in between the second and third periods after he was hit by a slap shot fired by Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson that appeared to be intentional.

“Obviously he shot the puck at him, and he came in and said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ ” forward Corey Perry said of Niedermayer. “He just took matters into his own hands. He calmed everybody down.

“Scotty doesn’t say a lot in the dressing room but when he does, everybody’s paying attention.”

Niedermayer downplayed his role in settling the team’s nerves.

“You’re just trying to help your team and as a leader, you’re always trying to keep the team focused or have the team respond the right way,” he said. “I guess when you get in big games, maybe there’s more at stake and it becomes more important.

“To me, I’m not really doing anything different last night than I would have tried to do at any point during the season, really.”

McDonald said Niedermayer “picks his spots” when he wants to deliver a message and that players look to him for leadership.

Teemu Selanne joked that “you have to do research someday to see if he has nerves at all.”

Carlyle added, “It’s his whole demeanor that’s a calming effect. He’s not a real vocal individual. What you see is what you get with Scotty.

“And I think he would rather not talk in most situations. He’s the kind of guy that likes to be private, but he leads by example.”

The Ducks have three chances to win one game, two of them at home. And for some veterans, there may not be many chances left.

Selanne is 36. Sean O’Donnell is 35. Todd Marchant is 33. Pronger and Rob Niedermayer are 32.

“Even though Scotty’s the only one that’s been fortunate enough to win a Cup, there’s a lot of guys around here that have been around a long time and they’ve played a lot of games,” O’Donnell said. “The list goes on and on.

“We’re looking at this as the last time we’re going to get this close.”

Penner expects to have many more years left to make the annual chase.

But he realizes what it means to those who have come before him and have yet to hoist the Cup.

“Just getting your name on the Cup would be a great feat,” the 24-year-old said. “But if you’re able to do it for guys that have been around the league for 10, 12 or 15 years, you get that satisfaction of being part of that and helping them.”

--

eric.stephens@latimes.com