Mendes: Alfredsson admits to shooting puck at Niedermayer in 2007 Stanley Cup Daniel Alfredsson had plenty of polarizing moments during the course of his 18-year career in the National Hockey League. One of the most controversial moments in Alfredsson's career was when he appeared to shoot the puck directly at Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer in the 2007 Stanley Cup Final. On Thursday, he admitted to TSN Radio's Ian Mendes that it was intentional.

Daniel Alfredsson had plenty of polarizing moments during the course of his 18-year career in the National Hockey League.

He had a controversial hit on Darcy Tucker in Game 5 of the 2002 playoffs that propelled the Battle of Ontario to a different stratosphere. His mock stick toss lampooning countryman Mats Sundin a couple of years later also turned up the temperature in that rivalry. And after falling behind 3-1 in a playoff series to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013, Alfredsson raised a lot of eyebrows when he said "probably not" when asked about his team's chances of coming back to win the series.

But one of the most controversial moments in Alfredsson's career has always been shrouded in a little bit of mystery. In Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Anaheim Ducks, Alfredsson appeared to shoot the puck directly at Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer at the end of the second period. Some have suggested it was a pure accident, while others have maintained the Sens captain deliberately shot the puck at Niedermayer out of frustration.

On Thursday afternoon, Alfredsson admitted that incident was one of the biggest regrets of his career.

"I had one of those moments where it just snapped for me. It was frustration and I saw this thing slipping away," Alfredsson said told TSN 1200. "That's something I would like to have undone - that's for sure."

The Senators would ultimately lose Game 4 by a score of 3-2, with the Ducks taking a commanding 3-1 series lead. Anaheim would close out the Sens in the next game and claim their first Stanley Cup championship. In hindsight, Alfredsson says that second period letdown in Game 4 was a critical turning point in the series.

"We won Game 3 and we had a chance to tie the series up. We played an unbelievable first period and we scored a goal late in the period and it seemed like we were on our way to win that game. And then we went out and had an awful second period," Alfredsson said.

The Ducks would score twice in the span of just over a minute in the second period, with a pair of goals by Andy McDonald to give them a 2-1 lead. While Dany Heatley responded for a late goal to tie the game 2-2, Anaheim was carrying the play and the momentum. So as the seconds ticked away in the second period, Alfredsson showed his frustration by firing a slapshot in the direction of Niedermayer. The longtime Sens captain admitted that he apologized to his Ducks counterpart during the post-series handshake.

"I apologized to Scott after we lost for what happened. I set the bar really high for the way game should be played and how you handle yourself in different situations. I stepped over the threshold a few times and that was one of them."