Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Drew Miller scored twice as Detroit took down Ottawa, 4-2, in Daniel Alfredsson's long-awaited return to his former hockey home.
Alfredsson was held off the scoreboard in his first game against the Sens, a 6-1 loss at Joe Louis Arena on Oct. 23 then missed a 4-2 defeat eight days ago.
On Sunday, he picked up an assist and an empty-net goal in 16:33 of playing time in front of a sellout crowd in Canada's capital which gave him a standing ovation during a pre-game video tribute.
"The result makes it a lot sweeter," Alfredsson said. "But if we would have lost, for me personally, I think it would still have been a night I'll always remember."
Johan Franzen also lit the lamp and Jonas Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Red Wings, who have taken four in a row and five of their last six.
Clarke MacArthur and Mika Zibanejad lit the lamp for the Senators, who stumbled to their sixth loss in eight. Robin Lehner stopped 19 pucks in defeat.
"They're a team that if you give them those opportunities, they're going to take advantage of them. They took what we gave them and they made it the difference," Ottawa head coach Paul MacLean said.
Miller gave Detroit a 3-1 edge before two minutes elapsed in the third period. Darren Helm carried the puck up the right wing, and peeled back at the circle, dropping a pass for Brendan Smith, who chipped it across to Miller for an insurance marker.
Ottawa skated 6-on-5 for most of the final two minutes, and Zibanejad potted a rebound with 1:21 on the clock to bring the hosts within 3-2.
Alfredsson put the clincher into the open cage on a shot from center ice.
Lehner stoned Helm on a short-handed breakaway just after the midway point of the opening period. Ottawa came up empty on back-to-back power plays in the first and the Wings carried play for stretches of both.
Franzen snapped the scoreless deadlock with 8:22 played in the second, as he whipped a wrister home from the left circle over Lehner's glove side.
Miller put the Wings ahead by two just under three minutes later thanks to a low shot from the right circle. but MacArthur halved the hosts' deficit just over three minutes after that by following up a Milan Michalek shot and converting from the slot.
Game Notes
Franzen has scored nine goals in eight career games against Ottawa ... Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall contributed two assists to the victory ... Senators owner Eugene Melnyk strongly hinted in a pregame interview, that Alfredsson's No. 11 will be retired in the future ... The 40-year-old Swede holds the franchise record for games played, goals, assists, points and game- winning scores ... With his late goal, Alfredsson has tallied against all 30 current NHL clubs.
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