OTTAWA (AP) -- The Ottawa Senators overcame adversity just in time for Daniel Alfredsson to make the Phoenix Coyotes pay for their lack of offense Tuesday night.

Alfredsson scored with 5:14 remaining to give Ottawa to a 2-1 victory. The Ottawa captain deflected Mike Fisher's centering pass by Phoenix goalie Sean Burke a minute after his teammates killed off a two-man advantage for a full two minutes.

"We got a big energy boost when we killed off the five-on-three,'' Alfredsson said. "Both teams' penalty killing was really good.''

Each team was 1-for-8 on the power play, but Ottawa got an emotional lift from staving off the last one.

"The critical point was the five-on-three,'' Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. "We didn't capitalize. Then we had two opportunities to get the puck out and we didn't.''

That's when Alfredsson struck.

"We had been cycling and the other guys we really tired,'' he said. "I was able to tip it. That was a long shift. I was dead.''

Marian Hossa gave the Senators a 1-0 lead just over four minutes into the second before Coyotes captain Teppo Numminen tied it six minutes later.

Only 13,816 fans showed up at the 18,500-seat Corel Centre. Ottawa's home opener, a 2-1 loss to New Jersey last Thursday, was 1,635 short of a sellout and the team has sold about 8,200 season tickets, the least of any Canadian team.

The team has sold about 8,200 season tickets, the least of any Canadian team.

"It's disappointing we're not getting more people, but times are tough,'' center Shaun Van Allen said. "People are struggling to make a living. We understand that.''

The Senators have a rare seven-day break until Carolina visits next Wednesday.

"It looks like we're going to have another week of training camp,'' wing Martin Havlat said.

The Coyotes, who have lost three of their first four games, play nine of their first 12 on the road. Playing the second game of a five-game road trip, they were coming off a 4-2 win at Columbus on Monday night.

Ottawa goalie Patrick Lalime denied Daymond Langkow on a partial break midway through the scoreless first period.

Hossa opened the scoring on a power play at 4:02, taking Martin Havlat's pass from the corner and beating Burke with his own rebound.

Numminen tied it at 10:23 with a point shot that eluded Lalime while the Coyotes held a two-man advantage.

"Special teams are going to play a part this year more than ever and we blew it,'' Phoenix wing Claude Lemieux said.

Ottawa outshot Phoenix 29-27. Lalime has stopped 66 of 70 shots in three games this season.

"Patrick was excellent and made some big stops right to the end,'' said Fisher. "He saved us.''

The Coyotes had a great chance to win when they got the two-man advantage. Ottawa's Chris Phillips hauled down Ladislav Nagy, and fellow defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play.

Game notes
The Senators have the most victories of any Canadian team the past six seasons, with 238 since the start of the 1996-97 schedule. ... Wing Toni Dahlman and defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski were healthy scratches for Ottawa. ... Brad May (left shoulder), Todd Simpson (broken hand), Drake Berehowsky (knee) and Krystofer Kolanos (concussion) sat out for Phoenix. Defenseman Martin Grenier and wing Andrei Nazarov were healthy scratches.