Alfredsson stays hot in Senators' win over Mighty Ducks
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Anaheim's Jeff Friesen knew he made a critical
mistake by high-sticking Ottawa's Shane Hnidy after the horn had
sounded at the end of the second period.
Friesen spent the entire intermission expecting the Senators to
capitalize on their power play -- and he was right.
Daniel Alfredsson snapped a tie 47 seconds into the third period with
his second power-play goal of the game as Ottawa beat the Mighty Ducks
4-2 on Sunday night.
"It was more or less just a stupid penalty -- especially after the way
we battled back to tie it," Friesen said. "There was no way they
weren't going to score a goal. I could just feel it."
The Senators, who were the first team in the league to score 100 goals,
became the second team to score 200 as Alfredsson beat Steve Shields to
the stick side with a 50-foot one-timer while the teams skated
four-on-three.
It was Alfredsson's career-high 33rd goal and marked the fifth time
this season Ottawa scored less than a minute into the third period.
Shawn McEachern also scored and Radek Bonk had two assists, helping end
Ottawa's four-game winless streak.
Marian Hossa scored his 25th goal into an empty net in the final minute
and Patrick Lalime made 16 saves, facing only one shot in the third
period -- a deflection by Patric Kjellberg with 3:15 remaining.
"We didn't give them anything after we scored that third goal," Lalime
said. "The defensemen and the forwards all were coming back, and I give
the credit to everybody."
McEachern and Alfredsson gave the Senators a 2-0 lead after one period,
while the Mighty Ducks were simply unlucky.
Anaheim's Jason York hit the post during a power play with 12:10 left
in the first period, and Dan Bylsma also hit the post on a shorthanded
breakaway less than seven minutes later.
Alfredsson overheard Lalime describing those two near-misses to
reporters and said, "You want him to save the wide ones, too?"
The Ducks eventually tied the game at 2-2 after German Titov and Denny
Lambert scored less than five minutes apart in the second period.
Alfredsson, the Senators' captain, needs one more point to reach 400
for his NHL career and join Alexei Yashin as the only players in club
history to reach that milestone.
"Right from the start of the season, he's played tremendous," coach
Jacques Martin said. "He's played with a lot of intensity, a lot of
determination and has shown a lot of leadership."
Shields started three consecutive games for the first time since
starting the first five games of the season when Jean-Sebastien Giguere
was sidelined because of a groin strain.
Notes: Alfredsson extended a goal-scoring streak to three games. His
goals also ended the Senators' four-game drought on the power play,
which matched their longest of the season. Last season, they never went
more than three games without a power-play goal. ... Ottawa center Mike
Fisher is expected to miss the rest of the regular season because of a
separated right shoulder. He was injured Thursday night at San Jose in
just his second game back after missing the previous five because of an
injured left shoulder. ... Ottawa defenseman Sami Salo (back) and left
winger Andre Roy (ankle) sat out. The Senators will also miss
defenseman Karel Rachunek for at least a week with an injured left
shoulder. ... Rookie Andy McDonald returned to the Anaheim lineup after
missing three games because of a concussion.