OTTAWA (Reuters):

ANDY MCDONALD scored a pair of goals and set up another as Anaheim edged the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Monday night to leave the Ducks on the brink of their first Stanley Cup.

The Ducks return to Southern California leading the best-of-seven final 3-1, with an opportunity toclinch the title on home ice when they host Game Five tonight.

"We know we're going to have to play a desperate hockey team," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We'll have to play possibly the best game we've played this year.

"We know we've got a 3-1 lead but the reality is the next one is going to be the toughest to win."

Not as tough, however, as the daunting task facing the Senators.

Only once since the best-of-seven format was adopted in 1939 has a team come back to erase a 3-1 deficit and lift the Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs rallying past the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.

Keeps scoring

McDonald stunned Ottawa fans when he scored goals 60 seconds apart midway through the second period to cancel out a 1-0 Senators lead, then helped set up Dustin Penner's game-winner early in the third.

Penner's third tally of the playoffs earned the Ducks their 12th one-goal victory of the post-season, equalling the NHL record.

Playing without All-Star defenceman Chris Pronger, who was serving a one-game suspen-sion for an illegal hit on Dean McAmmond, Anaheim survived a furious first-period assault before taking control of the contest.

Ottawa completely dominated the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Ducks 13-2, but their efforts went unrewarded until captain Daniel Alfredsson's powerplay goal with less than a second remaining.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere had frustrated the Senators for 19 minutes and 59 seconds with a series of acrobatic saves, until Alfredsson picked the top corner on the Ducks netminder just as the buzzer was about to sound.

Last reward

"We played well and didn't get rewarded until the last second," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. "We certainly had enough shooting chances and opportunities to jump on them.

"Certainly, we felt we could have got a little more reward."

The Ducks awoke from their offensive slumber in the second, McDonald notching his eighth and ninth goals of the play-offs to silence the 20,500 crowd.

Ottawa got back on level terms beforethe end of the period, when Patrick Eaves feathered a goalmouth pass to Dany Heatley, who was lurking unmarked off the far post and hammered a shot into the open net.

But the Ducks took the lead for good just four minutes into the third, when Penner finished off a two-on-one with Teemu Selanne after McDonald worked the puck out of his own end to start the rush.