Ottawa ? The Stanley Cup crossed the continent from Anaheim to Ottawa on Thursday. If the Ducks have their way, the prized trophy won’t make that journey east again.

The most successful hockey team in Southern California history carried a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals to Canada’s capital city, full of confidence and holding a tinge of hope that when they return home after Game 4 they will be in possession of the cherished chalice that was unveiled in Ottawa in 1892.

On the strength of winning goals by checking-line forwards Travis Moen and Samuel Pahlsson, the Ducks swept their first two home games and improved to 5-0 in Cup finals games in Anaheim. They won all three during the 2003 championship series against New Jersey but dropped four on the road.

They can earn their first finals win away from home in Game 3 on Saturday after the series takes a two-day break. Game 4 will be Monday.

“I believe we’re very comfortable playing on the road as well as at home,” goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said Thursday night after the Ducks arrived at their hotel in Gatineau, Quebec. “We’re a team that has size. We can skate with any team in this league. So it doesn’t really matter if we play at home or on the road, we’ll be the same type of team.”

The Senators went from the airport to their home arena Thursday night to get in a little workout. Some laced up their skates and took the ice, while others did different kinds of exercise for 15-30 minutes.

“Nothing too strenuous … get the kinks out,” Senators coach Bryan Murray said.

Saturday night will be their first home game in 17 days, dating to a May 16 loss to Buffalo in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.

“It’ll be nice to have a game here and feed off the crowd,” top-line forward Jason Spezza said.

Giguere needed to make only 16 saves Wednesday night to earn a 1-0 victory and post his sixth career playoff shutout – the first this year. His biggest test came when the Ducks killed off their second 5-on-3 disadvantage of the series, this one lasting 1:07 of the first period and producing the bulk of the Senators’ offensive chances during their seven-shot frame.

The rest of the work was done in front where Pahlsson, Moen and Rob Niedermayer again shut down the potent top line of the Senators that has generated no goals and two assists in two games.

Not only aren’t Daniel Alfredsson, Spezza, and Dany Heatley scoring, the trio has also become a defensive liability. They committed 11 turnovers as a group Wednesday, and for the second straight game they were on the ice for the winning goal in the closing minutes of the third period.

“It all started with a turnover … so, yeah, I’m concerned about that,” Murray said. “That’s the whole message to the line.”

After resisting temptation in the series opener on Monday, Murray split up the line for parts of all three periods in Game 2 with the hope that spreading the players out would create matchup problems for the Ducks.

No such luck.

“Our line, we have to lead the way,” Spezza said. “We’ve done it up to this point and it’s tough for our team to have success if the three of us aren’t going well.”

It’s not just the lack of scoring that is troublesome for the Senators, it’s their inability to sustain any kind of offensive attack when skating at even strength. Anaheim held a 32-20 shots advantage in the opener and stretched that to 63-36 through two games.

“We’ve kind of done our job,” Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said. “We’ve won our two home games, and let’s face it, you’re supposed to win your home games. Now it’s in their court.”

Only once in 30 chances has the road team dropped the first two games and rallied to take the Cup.