Music: {allcanada} Alfredsson back in Ottawa with Red Wings

Sunday, December 1, 2013

{allcanada} Alfredsson back in Ottawa with Red Wings

OTTAWA -- Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson arrived at Canadian Tire Centre together for their game Sunday, but unlike in previous seasons, they parted ways in front of the visiting team's dressing room.

The two Swedes shook hands and embraced before Alfredsson turned to head into the Detroit Red Wings' room. Karlsson continued down the hallway to the Ottawa Senators' dressing room.

Alfredsson will play his first game in Ottawa since parting ways with the Senators last summer, when he signed a one-year contract to play with Detroit.

The 40-year-old right wing spent his first 17 seasons in Ottawa, the last 13 as team captain. He is the Senators' all-time leader in games played (1,178), goals (426), assists (682) and points (1,108).

The Senators will honor Alfredsson with a five-minute tribute video prior to the opening faceoff. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock put Alfredsson in the starting lineup.

"It's great for Alfie that they're going to honor him in this way," Babcock said. "Anybody who has played almost 1,200 games for your organization, been your captain, should be treated in that way. It's a positive thing and it's a way for Alfie to say thanks to the fans and vice versa, but as far as us, we're going to enjoy it. We're going to enjoy it with him, and then let's play."

Pavel Datsyuk will not play for Detroit. The All-Star left wing will miss his fourth straight game since he caught an elbow on the chin from Ottawa defenseman Jared Cowen in the Red Wings' 4-2 loss to the Senators on Nov. 23.

"It was just one of those quick plays where you just want to try to get a bump on him before he got back to the net," said Cowen, who will be a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game. "I obviously caught him in the chin. I didn't feel like it was that hard, though. I never really hit a guy in the face with an elbow before, so I felt bad, but at the time I didn't really mean to hit him in the face."

These are the expected Red Wings and Senators lineups:

RED WINGS

Johan Franzen – Henrik Zetterberg – Gustav Nyquist

Justin Abdelkader – Darren Helm – Daniel Alfredsson

Drew Miller – Joakim Andersson – Tomas Tatar

Daniel Cleary – Stephen Weiss – Mikael Samuelsson

Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson

Kyle Quincey – Brendan Smith

Jakub Kindl – Brian Lashoff

Jonas Gustavsson

Jimmy Howard

Injured: Pavel Datsyuk (upper body), Todd Bertuzzi (upper body), Danny DeKeyser (upper body)