PITTSBURGH – The career has now spanned 1,298 NHL games and will include at least one more.
And if there’s anything Daniel Alfredsson has built during 17 seasons of pro hockey at its highest level, it is a reputation as a competitor that is beyond repute. You need only have heard members of the Pittsburgh Penguins come to his defence on Thursday to get a sense of that.
Alfredsson created a stir following Ottawa’s 7-3 loss in Game 4 when he said it was “probably not” feasible for the Senators to erase a 3-1 series deficit to Pittsburgh because of the Penguins depth and their red-hot power play.
I was standing beside the Senators captain in the dressing room when those words came out of his mouth on Wednesday night and can tell you it was simply an honest answer to an honest question.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Alfredsson also spoke passionately about how he expected the team to rise to the occasion when facing elimination, although that part of his message received considerably less attention.
Back here at Consol Energy Center, where Game 5 of the second-round series will be played Friday night, the Penguins were clearly aware of Alfredsson’s comments. But they weren’t left with any sense that he or his team was prepared to surrender.
“I think he’s a smart guy,” Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke said. “He’s a great leader for their team and organization and I’m sure that he has the right intention and motives behind his comments.”
Added winger James Neal: “I heard that definitely wasn’t all of the quote. I don’t think by any means are they going to give up or roll over.”
Were it not for Alfredsson this series would probably already be over. Remember that it was his unlikely short-handed goal with 28.6 seconds to play in Game 3 that sent that contest beyond regulation and allowed Colin Greening to score the double overtime winner.
In fact, as you look back over the 40-year-old Swede’s outstanding career, there is not even a trace of doubt about his commitment, dedication or character.
Alfredsson has appeared in every series the modern-day Senators have ever played. More often than not, he has led the team in playoff scoring — something he is doing yet again in what might be his last hurrah in the NHL.
He has even shown that he has the right touch in handling a mini-firestorm like the one that erupted following his honest assessment of this series. Alfredsson certainly didn’t retreat from his position when he spoke to reporters again on Thursday.
“I haven’t listened or heard all the comments, but it sounds like (people are saying) I had given up,” he said in Ottawa. “If you ask anyone and they looked at our series, I don’t think there’s too many people that would pick us right now. That’s what I meant.”
It would seem that there was nothing more that needed to be said behind closed doors, either.
Senators coach Paul MacLean came out in support of his captain — “I think Daniel, I’ve got no issue with that,” MacLean said — and it might even end up being turned into a rallying cry for the rest of the players on the roster.
“I think the guys in this room know enough about me, and I believe in these guys,” Alfredsson said. “What I said and how it’s looked at, I’m not going to change anything in what I said. It’s pretty obvious to me we’re in very tough, but all we can do is focus on (Friday’s) game and give ourselves a chance to come back here for Game 6.”
One thing the team is fighting for is the chance to guarantee that Alfredsson will be around a little longer.
Just like during last year’s first-round series against the New York Rangers, the captain’s future is hanging over Ottawa’s performance now. He won’t decide whether to retire or return until later this summer, but the team and the city clearly don’t seem ready to let him go just yet.
“His head and hands and heart are still there,” teammate Jason Spezza said earlier this week. “That’s the stuff that really drives you. He can play probably as long as he wants just because of the way he thinks the game and how patient he is.”
Defenceman Marc Methot was a newcomer to Ottawa this season and already refers Alfredsson as “the best captain I think I’ve ever had.”
“You see how competitive and passionate he is about the game still,” Methot said. “It’s unbelievable at his age with the amount of hockey he has under his belt that he can maintain that. I think that’s why all the guys respect him so much.”
It’s also why he said what he did following a loss in Game 4 where the Senators had a chance to even the series with Pittsburgh.
There was plenty of reason to be frustrated — starting with an ineffective penalty kill, the sight of goalie Craig Anderson being pulled for a second time in this series and a general inability to disrupt the attack of a team many have picked to win the Stanley Cup.
That is not a winning formula by any measure.
However, the sun came up again in Ottawa on Thursday morning and the Sens tried to seize on the opportunity they still have before them.
“The good thing is we’re still in the playoffs, it’s not over,” Alfredsson said. “So we’re going to go in there and give them everything we have.”
Nothing less should be expected of a group that has carved out an identity as a pesky, never-say-die squad.
In Pittsburgh, where the Penguins have failed in their last six attempts to clinch a playoff series on home ice, nothing was being taken for granted. They were more focused on Alfredsson’s assertion that the Sens would be hungry than anything else he had to say after Game 4.
“I did hear the comments and the words but there’s more to what he said and there’s more to what he said (about) his team,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “I’m expecting them to be at their very best and I’m expecting them to be a desperate type of team coming in here.
“The storyline is going to change for this series after Game 5 too.”
Win or lose, the one storyline that will remain constant is the one about Alfredsson. The guy is a competitor and he arguably means more to the Senators than any other NHL player does to his team.
Now that’s really saying something.