Alfredsson lifts Red Wings to win over former team

Daniel Alfredsson got a firsthand look at how the Ottawa Senators are now struggling without him. Alfredsson scored an empty-net goal and added an assist in his return to Ottawa, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the host Senators, 4-2, on Sunday night.

Alfredsson, the former longtime captain of the Senators, wasn’t primarily responsible for Ottawa’s second straight loss and fourth consecutive at home, but he helped contribute to the continuation of his ex-team’s woes. Like so many times in their previous 27 games in the post-Alfredsson era, something was missing for the Senators (10-13-4). Defensive breakdowns led to goals, and there wasn’t enough offense to compensate.

“They catch us on three line changes, and they get the odd-man rush and they don’t miss,” Ottawa Coach Paul MacLean said. “They’re a team that if you give them those opportunities, they’re going to take advantage of them. They took what we gave them and they made it the difference.”

The other difference was Ottawa’s power-less power play, that went 0-for-4 and recorded only four shots.

“We couldn’t really establish anything off the entries, and that’s why we couldn’t really get set up,” defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “We just had to chase the puck the whole time.”

Drew Miller scored twice, Johan Franzen added a goal, and Jonas Gustavsson made 29 saves for Detroit.

Clarke MacArthur and Mika Zibanejad had goals for Ottawa.

MacArthur scored his eighth goal of the season, and Zibanejad made things interesting late, but it wasn’t enough for the Senators to improve to 3-0 against the Red Wings. Ottawa won the first two meetings in Detroit.

“It was important for our team. We had dropped the ball,” Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock said. AP