FanHouse DanielAlfredsson

FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 32 is Ottawa Senators forward Daniel Alfredsson.

Prior to Daniel Alfredsson's arrival in Ottawa, the Senators were a laughing stock in the NHL, winning just 33 of their first 216 games. It was the worst record after three seasons for any expansion team in league history, and it almost seems impossible to lose that many games. Such is life when Norm Maciver is your leading scorer.

While first-round picks Alexei Yashin, Alexandre Daigle and Radek Bonk were disappointments for one reason or another, it was Alfredsson, a sixth-round pick in 1994, that proved to be the cornerstone of the team.

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A lot of the talk following last night's Game 2 in Detroit centered around Chicago's Brian Campbell and his turnover, which led to Mikael Samuelsson's game-winning goal, giving the Wings a 3-2 win in overtime and a 2-0 series lead. But it wasn't nearly the first time that Campbell has made a mistake that has cost his team a victory in a playoff overtime. This is actually the third time in this past three years that a misplay by Campbell has led to an overtime defeat for his team.

Capitals 3, Panthers 0: After getting blown out on Monday, the Washington Capitals rebounded on Tuesday by picking up a 3-0 win in Florida. Jose Theodore, coming off a disastrous performance in Atlanta, stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season. Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich and Mike Green all scored for the Capitals, while Alex Ovechkin picked up an assist, as he's still looking for goal No. 50 on the season.

For the Panthers, it's a costly loss as a win would have put them back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. They're certainly picking a bad time to hit a slump, as the Panthers have dropped four in a row and five of their past six.

Monday's game between Toronto and Ottawa had no impact on the NHL's playoff race, but it still managed to make some headlines thanks to the stick of Senators forward Jason Spezza.

With Toronto trailing, 2-1, late in the third period, the Maple Leafs felt there was something suspicious about the stick Spezza was using.

The Ottawa Senators are currently on their third head coach in the past two seasons and sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. The one constant over that time has been general manager Bryan Murray, and one of the former coaches is pointing the finger directly at him for the team's recent failures on the ice.

John Paddock, fired by the Senators on February 28, 2008, blasted his former boss saying, among other things, that he's now "next in line" to take the fall.

Kings 5, Capitals 4: Exciting game in Washington as the Caps and Kings combined to light up the scoreboard with nine goals and 80 shots in Los Angeles' 5-4 win. The Kings had a number of two-goal leads throughout the night, including a 5-3 advantage late in the third period. With just over a minute to play in regulation, Brooks Laich scored his 13th goal of the season, closing the deficit to just one.

Jonathan Quick managed to hold on for the Kings in net, as Washington fired 22 shots on goal in the third period, and 45 for the game. Alex Ovechkin scored his 37th goal of the season -- and 200th of his career -- for the Capitals.

It wasn't long ago that the Ottawa Senators were the best team in the Eastern Conference, playing in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Anaheim Ducks. Really, it was only two years ago. Amazing how fast things can change.

Currently, the Senators find themselves in the 13th spot of the Conference -- tied with Atlanta -- with 39 points. Assuming it takes 90 points to qualify for the postseason, the Senators would need to close out this season with 51 points in 37 games. In other words, they would need to go 25-11-1.

For two periods Wednesday night's Penguins-Capitals tilt lived up to the hype -- and we certainly hyped it. Following some spirited trash talk between Alex Ovechkin and the Penguins bench prior to the start of the third period, Ovechkin transformed himself into a one-man wrecking crew, as he helped take over the game and lead the Capitals to a 6-3 win.

The Capitals scored four goals in the third period -- including two from Ovechkin -- as they snapped a three-game losing skid. Meanwhile, for the Penguins, the inconsistencies continued, as they failed to win back-to-back games yet again. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Penguins have not won consecutive games since the middle of November.

The Boston Bruins won their ninth straight game on Tuesday night, picking up a 5-2 victory in Pittsburgh. Aside from winning nine in a row, the Bruins finish the month of December with a 12-1 record, while extending their lead in the Eastern Conference to nine points over the No. 2 team, the New York Rangers Washington Capitals.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ice, the month of December can't end soon enough for the Penguins, as they went 5-9 for the month, including four consecutive losses on home ice. Even worse, Pittsburgh has posted a 2-7 record in its past nine games at Mellon Arena. That's not good. Look, I realize the Penguins have been slow starters the past two seasons before kicking it in gear in February and March, but can you keep relying on that? Might make it a little easier on yourself to actually win some games in October, November and December because, you know, those games count too.

As for this game, Boston received a stellar effort in net from Tim Thomas as he turned aside 32-of-34 shots, while Phil Kessel, Dennis Wideman, Marc Savard, Zdeno Chara and Martin St. Pierre provided the offense. The Bruins went 2-for-8 on the power play, and scored a shorthanded goal on a 3-on-1 break in the third period, pretty much taking Pittsburgh out of the game. I think that speaks volumes about the Penguins power play when they allowed a 3-on-1 rush with the man advantage.

Highlight of the night for Pittsburgh was Tim Wallace, a recent callup from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, who squared off against Milan Lucic and actually held his own for a while, before getting dropped by Lucic. The two teams meet again on Thursday, in Boston.

After advancing to the Stanley Cup finals two years ago, the Ottawa Senators opened last season on a 16-4-0 run, looking like the best team in the NHL. From that point on, however, it was all down hill as they finished the season 27-27-8, barely sneaking into playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, which led to a quick and decisive four game sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Through the first two-and-a-half months of this season, things aren't looking much better for the Senators, as they currently hold the No. 12 spot in the conference with 27 points, six points out of the final playoff spot. Though, to be fair, it's a little early to be looking at playoff spots. Maybe.

Still, they're the lowest scoring team in the NHL (only 67 goals) and are coming off an embarrassing loss, at home, against the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday. The Thrashers, by the way, entered play on Tuesday with the worst record in the league. As you might expect, this isn't exactly sitting well with the front office.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Bryan Murray vowed to shake up the roster on Wednesday, while head coach Craig Hartsburg decided to shake up the lines, splitting up the trio of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson.