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Alfredsson’s advice to teammates: “Don’t leave anything behind”

Daniel Alfredsson

Ottawa Senators’ Daniel Alfredsson, of Sweden, celebrates his 400th career goal at 3:31 of overtime to give the Senators a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames in NHL hockey game action in Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

AP

The Ottawa Senators have lost four of their last five games and are now just four points ahead of the ninth place Buffalo Sabres. That makes their upcoming set of three games in four days critical, but it should also prove to be a particularly wearing stretch.

Ottawa will play in Montreal on Friday before heading back home to face the hot Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. After that game, they’ll have to journey to Winnipeg for Monday’s contest. Everything the Ottawa Senators have worked for this season could be in jeopardy if struggle during that three-game set. However, team captain Daniel Alfredsson knows that the Senators can’t afford to overanalyze things.

“It’s easy to get caught up in everything and sometimes, especially after a long year, you kind of forget all the basics,” Alfredsson said. “But we’ve done a lot of good things to get where we are and we’ve put ourselves in a great position. Now it’s just full gas from here on in and don’t leave anything behind, because this is the best time of year.”

Alfredsson saw Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to New Jersey as a step in the right direction. It also helps that this Senators team endured a seven-game losing streak and came out the other end. A stretch like that can teach their younger players how to cope with adversity and might prove to be helpful as they try and end this cold streak before the damage to their season becomes severe.