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OTTAWA -- On the day Daniel Alfredsson returned to Ottawa, the Senators got yet another reminder that things arent the same this season without him. Despite an empty-net goal and an assist, Alfredsson wasnt primarily responsible for the Senators second straight loss and fourth straight at home. But in helping the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-2 victory Sunday night at Canadian Tire Centre, the long-time captain contributed to the continuation of his former teams woes. "The result makes it a lot sweeter," said Alfredsson, who was named the third star in his return. "You could tell our team was motivated today and played hard and I thought we got better as the game went on. But if we would have lost, for me personally I think it would still have been a night Ill always remember." Like so many times in their previous 27 games in the post-Alfredsson era, something was just missing for the Senators (10-13-4). Botched line changes hurt badly. "They catch us on three line changes and they get the odd-man rush and they dont miss," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. "Theyre a team that if you give them those opportunities, theyre going to take advantage of them. They took what we gave them and they made it the difference in the game." The other difference was Ottawas power-less power play, which went 0-for-4 and put up just four shots. "We couldnt really establish anything off the entries, and thats why we couldnt really get set up," defenceman Erik Karlsson said. "We just had to chase the puck the whole time." And when the Red Wings had the puck at even strength, they got the job done. Alfredsson assisted on Johan Franzens opening goal for Detroit (14-7-7), and Drew Miller scored twice. Clarke MacArthur scored his eighth goal of the season for the Senators, and Mika Zibanejad made things interesting late, but it wasnt enough to make them a perfect 3-0 against the Red Wings this season. Ottawa won the first two meetings, both coming at Joe Louis Arena. "It was important for our team. We had dropped the ball, the first time we played against them we played poorly," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "It was important to respond here today, for Alfie and for the guys. The guys care about him, they wanted him to have a big night here." Alfredsson had himself a night with his 590th and 591st points in his 596th game in Ottawa. The empty-net goal brought boos from the crowd of 20,011, but it generated plenty of relief for the Red Wings. "It was nice kind of to seal the game there," Alfredsson said. "They were pushing, and I was thinking, Here comes the Pesky Sens again. But we were lucky to get a good bounce there." The Senators were the "Pesky Sens" last year when they managed to find ways to win despite injuries to Karlsson, centre Jason Spezza, goaltender Craig Anderson and others. This season, theyve struggled mightily. Sunday was another painful example of those problems. "At the end of the day we didnt do enough to win," MacLean said. "Is that playing harder? Is that work ethic? Is that being smarter? Its all of the above, I would say. But we can just categorize it I guess under one term is that we need to play harder." And, ideally, better at home. Their last win at Canadian Tire Centre was Nov. 15. "It seems like we got a little block at home," MacArthur said. "I think one thing goes wrong and then another thing goes wrong, and then we start to tighten up. I dont know if its shutting our brains off for periods during the game, but we made a couple mental errors and its one of those nights where its a good team and they capitalize." With all the Senators flaws, MacLean refused to pin any blame on goaltender Robin Lehner, who made 19 saves on 22 shots. "We have no issue with Robins game. None," MacLean said. "I dont have any issue with that. The line changes, the opportunities they got, oh yeah wed like one more save and one more play, but to be honest with you they were pretty good opportunities for them." Red Wings goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who like Alfredsson is a native of Gothenburg, Sweden, made 29 saves for the victory. The pre-game fanfare was all about Alfredsson, who spent 17 seasons with the Senators, including the final 14 as their captain. The game only got underway after a 67-second video tribute to Alfredsson that was accompanied by "Alfie" chants and a standing ovation. "It was fun to see the ovation he got," said Karlsson, who drove to the rink with Alfredsson. "Its probably nice to get it over with as well for him. I think the fans handled it really well and gave him the applause he deserved and then during the game they cheered for the Sens as normally." There wasnt much to cheer for. After a lacklustre first period, Alfredsson was involved in the scoring when it began in the second. Alfredsson gave the puck to defenceman Jakub Kindl as the Red Wings caught the Senators on an odd-man rush. With only defenceman Erik Karlsson back, Franzen had Henrik Zetterberg with him and Alfredsson trailing but decided to shoot and beat Lehner at the 8:22 mark of the second. It was Franzens seventh goal of the season and Alfredssons 14th assist. Miller made it 2-0 Red Wings at the 11:13 mark, taking a pass from Tomas Tatar and firing a one-timer past a sliding Lehner. The Senators answered just over three minutes later on a flurry around Gustavsson. Milan Michalek followed his shot to the net and knocked the puck loose and right to MacArthur, who broke up the shutout at 14:14. Miller was the beneficiary of some messy play by the Senators on his second goal of the game. Detroit defenceman Brendan Smith managed to stick-handle and pull everyone to him, leaving Miller wide open to put the puck into an empty net. "Those are the easy ones," Miller said. "Those are the ones youd like to get more often than not." It was the Red Wings fourth straight victory. They havent lost since the Senators beat them in Detroit on Nov. 23. NOTES -- Defenceman Marc Methot was a late scratch for the Senators with the flu, the team announced. Coach Paul MacLean indicated before the game that Jared Cowen would be a healthy scratch for a second straight game. Instead Cowen replaced Methot in the lineup. ... Alfredsson finished with 16:33 of ice time. Darrelle Revis Jersey . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Dexter McDougle Jersey . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. http://www.authenticjetsfanatic.com/c-16-jets-leon...ersey.a spx . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. David Harris Jersey . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. Wesley Walker Jersey .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team.CALGARY -- American Steven Holcomb completed a sweep of the mens World Cup bobsled races Saturday with a victory in the four-man event while Canadian Chris Spring just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish. Holcomb, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, guided his team of Curt Tomasevicz, Steven Langton and Chris Fogt to a two-run time of one minute 48.56 seconds at Canada Olympic Park. Germanys Maximilian Arndt and Russias Alexander Zubkov finished tied for second place in 1:48.65 and Spring, from Calgary, was fourth in 1:48.67. "Were a little off the podium, its not what we wanted but there are lots of positives to come out of this," Spring said. "Well leave here pretty happy and moving on to the next stop, weve got some good momentum coming our way." Spring was eighth after the first run but had the fastest time in the second run on a cool, overcast afternoon. Holcomb and Langton won gold in the two-man race on Friday at the season-opening event..dddddddddddd "For us to have this first World Cup under our belts with a new team and new equipment, its kind of like having a monkey off our back," Langton said. "It gives us that confidence moving forward." Spring and Jesse Lumsden of Burlington, Ont., won bronze in the two-man race. They were joined by Cody Sorensen of Ottawa and Saskatoons Ben Coakwell for the four-man competition. The other Canadian sleds also cracked the top 10 on Saturday. Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., was sixth in 1:48.88 and Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., was ninth in 1:49.02. Rush was joined by David Bissett and Neville Wright, both of Edmonton, and Calgarys Lascelles Brown. Kripps piloted James MacNaughton of Newmarket, Ont., Torontos Tim Randall and Graeme Rinholm of Medicine Hat, Alta. The womens bobsled race was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Kaillie Humphries of Calgary and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., were expected to be medal contenders. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China ' ' '
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