01-03-2020, 08:32 AM
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. Vapormax Flyknit Moc 2 Pas Cher . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. Destockage Nike Vapormax . No such luck. Wiggins owned the end of Parkers impressive homecoming. The Kansas star scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, outplaying Parker down the stretch and helping the fifth-ranked Jayhawks knock off No. http://www.vapormaxpaschersoldes.fr/ .Do you have to be that close? Federer snapped at a TV cameraman hovering nearby as he received medical advice after losing a set on Wednesday.For Nadal and Sharapova, the nuisance was coming from the lowly-ranked qualifiers across the net. Vapormax Pas Cher Soldes . The day began ominously for the Rangers when star pitcher Yu Darvish was scratched from his scheduled start with stiffness in his neck. Fill-in Scott Baker gave up three hits over six innings and Chris Gimenez hit a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the sixth off Phil Hughes. Vapormax Grossiste . This has become the Raptors mantra as they embark on a new era with a new regime and, in the not-so-distant future, a new image.VANCOUVER - B.C. Lions head coach Mike Benevides didnt give his team much time to celebrate last weeks dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Calgary Stampeders. Benevides had the Lions in a meeting less than nine hours after their plane touched down after that 25-24 triumph to emphasize that while beating the CFLs last undefeated club was big, it wouldnt mean much if they produce a dud this Friday at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Catch the game on TSN starting at 10pm et/7pm pt. "The guys had to have a quick turnaround. They were a little bit surprised by that," said Benevides. "The first message was that I commended them for their performance, but the message that I really wanted to relay was we have really got to prepare to meet a huge challenge from the Tiger-Cats." The coach had good reason to get their attention early. The last time the Lions (3-3) stepped on the field at B.C. Place Stadium they were coming off two big wins and feeling pretty good about themselves, only to get embarrassed 23-6 by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. "Weve got to stay consistent, weve got to find a way to get it done at home. The message has been clear," said Benevides. "The veterans and captains and leaders have echoed that. I think were well prepared based on what Ive seen this week." Lions running back Andrew Harris picked up his third weekly top Canadian award of the season for his performance in Calgary, and said its important the Lions keep pace in a very competitive West Division. "Weve had a tendency to have big games and then come back a little flat," said Harris, who leads the CFL with 722 all-purpose yards. "We have to keep this fire burning and weve got to stay at a high energy and high pace with that same attitude we had against Calgary in the second half. "Its a struggle, but if we want to be a good team in this league and consistent and climb the ladder in the West, we need to be able to do that." B.C. quarterback Kevin Glenn said the Lions will have to be wary of a wounded Tiger-Cats team that is coming off a heartbreaking 27-26 last-second loss against Winnipeg that dropped them to 1-4. "Every week youve got to make sure you come to play," said Glenn. "Weve got a team thats coming in (and) their record could easily be reversed to where they have three, four wins and only one or two losses. "We just want to make sure we come out and we match their intensity. Theyre a team thats going to come in here ready to play given their situation." Glenn will get the start again versus Hamilton, but the Lions will have a familiar face in uniform for the first time since last sseason.dddddddddddd. Travis Lulay is slated to suit up as either the No. 2 or No. 3 quarterback on Friday for the first time since undergoing surgery on his throwing shoulder in the November. It has been a long road back for the Lions incumbent, who had hoped to be ready for the start of the season. "Its exciting. Its not the end of the road, but this is a huge step for me," said Lulay. "Just on a personal level its exciting to know its to the point now where were talking about where on the depth chart as opposed to whether or not youre putting a helmet on." While the Lions offence has struggled at times under Glenns stewardship, the defence is ranked No. 2 in the league and has been lights out all season, led in large part by linebackers Solomon Elimimian and Adam Bighill. The Lions surrendered just three points in the second half against Calgary, allowing time for a B.C. comeback that included two fourth-quarter touchdowns. "Thats the standard that weve set," said Elimimian, who had 10 tackles last week and leads the league with 49 through just six games. "We set high standards for ourselves and we want to continue that because we understand that for this team to get to where we want to get to, the defence is a big part of that." Added Bighill: "It comes down to everyone just doing their job to the best of their ability. Weve got guys making plays. Weve just got to be consistent, because thats what great teams do." After last weeks loss to the Blue Bombers, Tiger-Cats head coach Kent Austin said he would "rather lose 47-0 than lose like that." Despite that frustrating outcome, Hamilton finds itself just one game out of first place in the East Division as all four teams continue to struggle for victories. If the Tiger-Cats are going to walk out of B.C. Place with a win, a good candidate to have a big game would be C.J. Gable. The explosive running back has a team-high 353 yards from scrimmage and is a player the Lions expect to key on. "Defensively we feel like weve been solid. We havent given up a lot in terms of points and yardage," said Bighill. "Theyre going to try to find ways to get (Gable) the ball, whether its throwing him the ball (or) running the ball out of the backfield. Were going to have eyes on him at all times." Notes: The Lions will dress defensive lineman Jabar Westerman after benching him last week in Calgary. The 25-year-old was in court this week on charges he allegedly threw a punch during a nightclub altercation in June. ... The Lions beat the Tiger-Cats 29-26 in their only meeting in Vancouver last season. ... B.C. visits Hamilton on Oct. 4. ' ' '