Ottawa's Alfredsson leader on, off the ice
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No matter how you twist the matchup, compare the teams, analyze the series, there is one thing Ottawa has that the Penguins don't.
That's a captain.
Although Sidney Crosby certainly seems destined to ascend to that role for the Penguins, Senators veteran winger Daniel Alfredsson is comfortable with the "C" on his sweater.
Not that he likes to talk about it publicly.
"I think my part is to lead by example, as always," said Alfredsson, who did that last night at Mellon Arena in a game in which the Senators could have been tired or tentative.
He had two goals to lead Ottawa to a 4-2 win in Game 3 of Ottawa's first-round Stanley Cup playoff series with the Penguins, giving the Senators a 2-1 lead in the series.
The victory came barely more than 24 hours after the Penguins won Game 2 in Ottawa, 4-3.
In that game, Alfredsson took aim at Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with the hope of breaking a third-period tie, only to have his composite stick shatter after it apparently was cracked earlier. The Penguins shot right back down the ice, and Crosby scored the winning goal.
Alfredsson's linemate, Jason Spezza, said he saw in the two-night sequence the hand of the "hockey gods."
"Those stupid composite sticks cost us one the other night, and [last night] they helped us out with a couple of one-timers," Spezza said.
Alfredsson just smiled.
"I made the most of my chances, I guess," he said.
He scored on his only two shots of the game.
"Danny has a lot of big nights," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. "[Last night] in a game we had to bounce back, he was certainly the leader."
Alfredsson scored Ottawa's third goal last night when he whipped a shot from the left circle under Fleury.
"I was able to walk in and take my time," Alfredsson said.
His second of the game -- and his fifth point of the series to match Crosby as the high scorer -- came at 17:12 of the second period when he one-timed home a pass from Dean McAmmond. It gave Ottawa a 4-1 advantage.
"It was a great pass from Dean, and I had time to take aim," Alfredsson said.
If he sounds a bit blase, it's only because that's his public persona shining through. He can be funny and informative, but he doesn't offer a lot when talking about himself.
Murray said that belies Alfredsson's impact off the ice, which comes behind closed doors.
"I think he really gets in your face once in a while as an individual player," Murray said. "We have all kinds of leadership meetings during the year, and he comes in and he's not afraid to tell me what he thinks of practice or our team, how we should work.
"You won't see that on the ice. He's one of those people, I don't think he'd ever show anybody up."
Alfredsson was Ottawa's sixth-round draft pick in 1994 but certainly has surpassed whatever expectations come with being taken 133rd overall.
He is the only player who has appeared in all 82 games in 15 playoff series for the Senators. He is also the franchise leader in the playoffs in goals (32), assists (31) and points (63).
That hasn't been enough to get the Senators past the Eastern Conference finals, and that happened just once. The team has exited in the first or second round each of the other seasons dating to 1997.
But Alfredsson's presence is huge regardless of whether Ottawa is at even strength, on the power play or killing a penalty.
He had 87 points this season to surpass 700 in his career and was second in the NHL with a plus-minus rating of plus-42.
In the three playoff games against the Penguins, he is even in plus-minus, has made five hits and is averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time.
"He's a big part of our team," goaltender Ray Emery said. "He sacrifices a lot of his offensive abilities to be a complete player. So when he starts to bury it, it's good for the team, definitely, because when he sacrifices that much, he deserves the pat on the back."
First Published April 15, 2007 11:16 pm
