ANAHEIM, Calif. — Teemu Selanne, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley all had a chance to show off their offensive prowess during their debut in the Stanley Cup finals.

Instead, the scoring glory was left to a 25-year-old checking forward, who knew just what to do with a bouncing puck.

Travis Moen, with a total of 24 previous regular-season and playoff goals, quickly swatted at the puck in the slot and knocked it past Ray Emery with 2:51 left. That gave the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup finals opener Monday night.

"I caught it on the way down, got a lucky shot and it went in. It was huge," Moen said. "I think every kid dreams of scoring a goal to win a game in the Stanley Cup final."

Moen's fifth of the playoffs came after Ryan Getzlaf's tying goal 11:25 earlier erased the 2-1 lead Ottawa carried into the third period.

Rob Niedermayer kept the winning play alive with a sweeping move behind the net, then nudged the puck in his checking linemate's direction.

"He picked the corner and he deserves it," Niedermayer said. "He's a pretty hard-working guy."

The 36-year-old Selanne, playing in the finals for the first time in his 14-year career, was goalless. He led the Ducks this season with 48 goals and 94 points.

Alfredsson, Heatley and Jason Spezza — the Senators' top line that tore through the Eastern Conference with 23 goals and 58 assists in the first three playoff rounds — were also quiet.

"They're dangerous every time they're out on the ice," Niedermayer said. "That's a great line, I mean all three of them."

In the first matchup of the teams this season, Moen, along with Niedermayer and Samuel Pahlsson, held the trio to two assists and handed the Senators their first series-opening loss in these playoffs.

Mike Fisher staked Ottawa to a 1-0 lead in the first period with a power-play goal on the Senators' first shot, and defenseman Wade Redden also scored on the man advantage in the second.

Andy McDonald netted a goal in the first for the Ducks, who will look to take a 2-0 lead at home on Wednesday.

The Senators appeared ready to win their first Stanley Cup finals game since the franchise was reborn in 1992, but the Ducks fought back and stole it away. Ottawa lost only one game in each of its other three playoff series and now faces its first deficit.

"I thought we came out pretty good the first 10 minutes," Heatley said. "After a layoff, you can't duplicate game situations. I don't think we're using it as an excuse, I just don't think we played up to our capabilities."

Ottawa went without a shot from the 5:36 mark of the first until the end of the period and finished with three.

"It's not so much what they did, it's what we didn't do as a line," Spezza said. "We didn't have as much jump."

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 18 saves overall to improve to 10-3 in the playoffs. Getzlaf's goal put the Ducks in a great position: Anaheim is 13-0 in the playoffs when scoring at least twice.

Then Moen put them right where they want to be — ahead in the finals.

As thrilled as the sellout crowd was in the arena, it was nowhere near the excitement back in Saskatchewan, where his family and friends camped out in front of the TV.

"I know my mom had 15, 20 people over watching," he said.

Even after grabbing an early lead, Emery and the rest of the Senators showed some rust in the first period following an eight-day layoff.

Emery left juicy rebounds and looked a bit unsteady in his crease, but he bounced back in the second period, stopping all 10 Anaheim shots, including one he grabbed out of the air as it threatened to bound past him.

Redden broke a 1-1 tie in the middle frame, making up for losing the puck in the opening period that led to McDonald's tying goal.

It was nearly enough to give the Senators a win in their first venture out of the Eastern time zone since March. Ottawa fell to 7-2 on the road in the playoffs.

"We didn't get the puck on them. We didn't have the jump. It's not easy when you have that many days off," Spezza said. "We didn't give our best effort and still had a chance to win. We were in it right to the end and it says a lot about our team."