MacLean era starts off on wrong foot

Paul MacLean is used to seeing the Detroit Red Wings win games at the Joe Louis Arena.

Unfortunately for him, he was standing behind the Ottawa Senators bench on Friday night.

The Red Wings ruined their old assistant's debut as an NHL head coach, as Detroit cruised to a 5-3 win over Ottawa in the season opener for both clubs.

"It looked like it always did from my bench - same as it did from that bench. They were very good in transition, they were quicker than us in transition," said MacLean after the game. "We got a lesson from a good hockey team on how to play the game at a high speed."

Detroit opened the scoring when Todd Bertuzzi was sent in alone after a bad line change seemed to catch Ottawa off-guard.

The Red Wings took control of the game in the second period, as they scored three goals on 16 shots. Ottawa made several costly mistakes in their own defensive zone that led directly to Detroit goals. A Chris Phillips giveaway less than two minutes into the frame resulted in a Nick Lidstrom goal. Eight minute later, a miscommunication between Erik Karlsson and his netminder Craig Anderson allowed Cory Emmerton to score as well.

"We all have to be a little smarter with the puck and make better decisions," said Phillips. "It's a part of the game. You have some guys who are just starting out and it's going to happen. Tonight it was everyone who was making costly mistakes."

"It was one of those nights where you made a mistake and they made you pay," said Anderson, who made 34 saves for Ottawa. "The effort was there. It was basically mistakes. We will try and correct those and learn from those."

The Senators spoiled Jimmy Howard's shutout bid with just over 14 minutes to play, when Milan Michalek deflected a point shot from Jason Spezza into the net. Michalek added another goal a few minutes later, with another assist going to Spezza. Kuba finished the Sens scoring on a goal with 90 seconds left to play - but the Wings held on for the 5-3 win.

The Senators are trying to take the positive out of a hockey game in which they trailed 5-0 at one point. They outscored the Red Wings 3-1 in the final frame, showing a little offensive touch around the net.

"It shows that we aren't going to quit," said Jason Spezza, who ended the night with two assists and a +1 rating. "We're a scrappy bunch. It's a good character trait to score some of those goals against a real good club."

Notes: There was a tribute to former Detroit assistant coach and player Brad McCrimmon, former Red Wings defenceman Ruslan Salei and former Detroit goalie prospect Stefan Liv before the game. They died in the Russian plane crash that wiped out the Locomotiv Yaroslavl team in early September. McCrimmon's wife, daughter and son were presented Red Wings "McCrimmon 2" jerseys and flowers by Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg and Datsyuk. The team will wear a patch with their initials throughout the season. ... Lidstrom -- beginning his 20th season -- played his 1,495th game, tying him with Phil Housley for 15th in NHL history and fifth in among defencemen. ... Red Wings D Niklas Kronwall replaced the retired Kris Draper as the team's third alternate captain. Kronwall will rotate wearing the 'A' with Datsyuk and Zetterberg. ... Ottawa C Peter Regin didn't play because of a shoulder injury. ... C Mika Zibanejad, the Senators' first-round pick in June, made his NHL debut. ... Detroit D Mike Commodore missed the game because of a knee injury.