Alfredsson Falls to Old Team with 6-1 Blowout Loss

The Detroit Red Wings, who picked up Daniel Alfredsson this offseason, had their first game against the Ottawa Senators this season on Wednesday evening. Although the jitters were there for former Senator captain Alfredsson – this didn’t exactly transpire into better game play from the Red Wings lineup.After Jimmy Howard was pulled with just over five minutes left in the first period, allowing three goals on eight shots, Mike Babcock needed to make a statement. Although the Red Wings pulled Howard early with 3-1 after the first period, which is an easy comeback game for a veteran Detroit team, the Senators had a bit more to prove than the Wings did.

The last time that the Senators beat the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena dates back all the way to December, 2006. While there have been victories at home for Ottawa with the helping hand of ex-captain, Daniel Alfredsson, against the Red Wings, they haven’t showed out like that against the Wings, on the road, in a very long time.

With six goals allowed by the Red Wings (three per goaltender), you could only imagine that the Red Wings have some thinking to do after a loss like this.

“We have an off-day tomorrow, so I’m just talking about whether we should have an off-day or not. It’s one of those things that I don’t think you forget this very easily and you shouldn’t forget it either. That’s embarrassing to play like we did,” head coach Mike Babcock said after the game.

This type of loss seemingly shocked the veteran coach who has some tenure behind the bench at the Joe. Simply put, the Red Wings were outplayed in every aspect.

With 32 shots served up on Ottawa’s goaltender, Craig Anderson, with only one goal allowed on the power play and zero on even strength, – the Sens were in sync.

Hopefully between the two home-and-home match-ups with the Senators coming up in the next month, they can pull it together, put some points on the board, protect the net, and put up a fight for a potential victory.

Daniel Alfredsson returns to his home of 16 NHL seasons in Ottawa, Canada on December 1st. The Red Wings will definitely have a bone to pick for such an embarrassing loss this week on their home ice.

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Information from the Detroit Red Wings was used in this report.

For more information on the Detroit Red Wings and NHL hockey from analysts and journalists at Michigan State University – tune into Octopi Hockeytown podcasts and embrace the Spartan debate at www.impact89fm.org/sports

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Austin Goodman is the host of Octopi Hockeytown for Impact Sports

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Scoring Summary:

1st period:

OTT – 5:46 – E. Gryba (Wrist) (M. Zibanejad, E. Condra)

OTT – 10:48 PPG – J. Spezza (Slap) (C. Phillips, E. Karlsson)

OTT – 14:14 PPG – B. Ryan (Wrist) (J. Corvo, K. Turris)

DET – 16:14 PPG – T. Bertuzzi (Wrap around) (H. Zetterberg, N. Kronwall)

2nd period:

OTT – 5:12 – J. Spezza (Wrist) (E. Karlsson, M. Methot)

3rd period:

OTT – 1:50 – J. Cowen (Wrist shot) (Z. Smith)

OTT 6:13 – B. Ryan (Wrist shot) (C. MacArthur, K. Turris)

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Three Stars:

First Star:  J. Speeza (two goals, +1 rating, 16:27 TOI, two shots, 1 hit)

Second Star: K. Turris (two assists, five shots, two hits, 18:18 TOI)

Third Star: B. Ryan (two goals, +1 rating, two shots, two PIM, 16:17 TOI)

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