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Alfredsson scores twice as Senators clip Red Wings

Jan 13, 2008 - 6:22 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Daniel Alfredsson certainly leads by example.

The Ottawa Senators captain scored the game's first and last goals, leading his team to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday in a matchup of the NHL's elite.

The victory aside, the Senators suffered a potentially tremendous loss when All-Star left wing Dany Heatley left the game in the third period with a right shoulder injury.

Heatley was hurt when he collided with Detroit's Dallas Drake while trying to gain possession of the puck. According to TSN of Canada, the talented 26-year-old suffered a separated shoulder and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

With the game tied at 2-2 and Ottawa on the power play with 2:56 to play in the third period, Alfredsson wristed a sharp-angle shot from the right faceoff circle that handcuffed goaltender Dominik Hasek.

"Every win is important," Alfredsson said. "But this was one of those games that was a little easier to get up for, and at this time of the year, it's nice to have that. This was a good test for us against the best team in the league, and it's nice to come out on top."

For Alfredsson, it was his 28th goal of the season - and eighth in his last nine games.

"Obviously, it's really nice to score big goals in big games," Alfredsson said. "Especially in front of our own fans here at home."

The talented Swede opened the scoring just 69 seconds into the game.

With Ottawa again the power play, Alfredsson gained control of the puck at the blue line and skated slowly toward the middle of the ice before blasting the puck past a screened Hasek.

"Alfie got a couple of big goals for us tonight," Ottawa's Jason Spezza said. "That was a big one at the end after they came back to tie it. You need your big players to step up in big games, and he did that."

Mike Fisher doubled Ottawa's advantage just 3:26 into the second period.

Fisher exploded through the neutral zone, skated in on Hasek and wristed a shot that was denied by the six-time Vezina Trophy winner. Fisher quickly regained possession of the puck and deposited it between Hasek's pads for his 16th goal of the season.

"I was just trying to get by the defense first," Fisher said. "Sometimes you never know what Dom is going to do, and he made a nice save on the first shot. But the rebound came right back to me, and I put it in."

Defenseman Brian Rafalski halved the deficit at 7:46 of the third. With the puck in the corner, All-Star Pavel Datsyuk kicked it to the blue-liner, who skated into the slot and wristed it past netminder Ray Emery.

Jiri Hudler leveled the game nearly 4 1/2 minutes later, blasting in a rebound to tie it at 2-2 with 7:54 remaining.

"It was a tough game against a good team," said Red Wings All-Star Henrik Zetterberg, who recorded an assist despite battling flu-like symptoms. "They had the momentum in the first two periods, but we played a little better in the third. We came close, but unfortunately, they scored that late goal to win it."

Detroit coach Mike Babcock was not pleased with either the loss or his team's inability to capitalize on its power-play opportunities. The Red Wings were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

"The key to the game was the specialty teams tonight," Babcock said. "They won the specialty-teams battle and won the game. That was the difference."

Hasek, who spent the 2005-06 season with Ottawa, finished with 29 saves.

"It's always disappointing, but especially when you lose in the last two minutes of the game," Hasek said. "They were aggressive and determined, and I could see even from the crease the way they were working. We came back, but they scored the last goal and there was no time to answer."

"It's only one game," said Spezza, who also is an All-Star this season. "It's nice to have an exciting game with that much emotion, and tonight there was no doubt that was a pretty emotional game."