"Nights don't come much more perfect than the one Sunday night at the Globe Arena

Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa's Swedish captain, set up two goals by Dany Heatley to pace Ottawa to a 3-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second half of this unique home-and-home in Sweden's capital.

At the game's conclusion, he was named the game's second star, delighting the capacity crowd of 13,699 that crammed into the Globe to see Alfredsson place his second – and likely last – NHL game in Sweden.

During the game's last minute, with Ottawa holding a commanding 3-0 lead, the crowd was in full throat, chanting Alfredsson's name over and over.

Asked if it was the perfect night, Alfredsson didn't even try to temper his joy.

"Pretty much," he said. "It couldn't have been much better."

This whole week has been a dream for Alfredsson, who played an exhibition game in Gothenburg, against his former team, Frolunda, before coming here to Stockholm to help the NHL kick of the regular season with the Bridgestone NHL Premiere 2008 series here against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.

And, as Sunday's victory started to sink in – in that long last minute of play – the usually-focused Alfredsson lost it just a bit. He looked around the crowd and savored the voices calling his name. He let the moment wash over him – and what a moment it was.

"I just tried to soak it all in at the end when were up 3-0," he said. "It was nice that I could look into the crowd and take it all in.

"I'm going to rank this among the highlights of my career. I was very fortunate to have this experience."

Alfredsson, an immensely-popular leader, took his teammates along for the ride all week. They loved how he capped off the journey Sunday night.

Alex Auld, who had a heroic performance of his own in turning aside 30 shots in his first start with the Senators, was amazed at what he saw all week – especially Sunday night.

"He's such a special player and means a lot to a special hockey nation," says Auld, who lost his shutout bid when the Penguins scored a power-play goal with 1.2 seconds remaining in the game.

"It was amazing to be around. He's such a national hero, and it's cool to see that because you never get to see that.""