OTTAWA -- The imposters were chased away from Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night. At least, that's what the Ottawa Senators would like to think.

"The focus was about us," said Senators coach Guy Boucher after a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. "About our identity, and getting our identity back and that's exactly what we got tonight."

Leading the Senators in from the wilderness of an 8-3 loss against the Montreal Canadiens were their leaders.

Mark Stone scored once and added an assist, while Alex Burrows and Nate Thompson had the other Ottawa goals.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was minus-6 against the Habs, had two assists and was a plus-two. And goalie Craig Anderson, who was pulled after giving up six goals on 15 shots on Monday, made 24 saves, losing his shutout bid when Anthony Mantha scored on the power play with less than four minutes to go.

"I think we just stuck to our game plan," Anderson said. "It doesn't matter first period, third period, we try to play the same way. I think we did a good job tonight of just staying calm and allowing the game to come to us.

The win improved the Senators' record to 6-2-5, while the Red Wings fell to 6-7-1.

Stone's goal in the last minute of the first period and Burrows power-play tally at 11:25 of the second gave the Senators a 2-0 lead with 20 minutes to play.

"When we got the puck deep and had some good forechecks we got some chances," Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg said. "There was a little bit in the second there, in the middle of the second period, when we didn't do that, and they took advantage of some turnovers. They're a tough team to play against."

Detroit admitted to having trouble with the Senators stifling style.

"We want to be a fast team. We've got a lot of guys who can skate and they want to slow it down, make it tight in neutral zone," Red Wings center center Dylan Larkin said. "At times in the game we didn't execute well in the neutral zone and they clogged it up pretty well and came down and played in our own zone. In the third I thought we did a good job of just getting the puck and attacking, just moving our feet."

While most of his players talked about the Senators ability to clog the middle, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill figured his team should have been able to break through.

"I didn't think we skated enough in the second," Blashill said. "I thought in the third we skated great and when we skated great, we kind of took the game back over. Part of that is when you bog yourself down not getting pucks out, now you're playing tired. When you're playing tired in D-zone, it's hard to close on people."

Meanwhile, the Senators home record improved to 3-2-4.

"To get to the playoffs, you've got to play well at home," Ottawa's Alex Burrows said. "We knew that some of the games we let slip away at home. They were self-inflicted mistakes. Tonight, I thought we did a much better job of playing all the way through, until we got in penalty trouble. It's nice to get a big win at home and hopefully we can build on that."

Their chances of doing that are better if they keep the imposter away.

"Over the course of the 60 minutes I think we held it together better than we have in previous games," Karlsson said. "They had a good push at some points but we kept them limited and got it back as quickly as we wanted to. Overall, I think it was one of our more complete games this year. I think we started well and finished well."

NOTES: With Senators D Mark Borowiecki missing his second game with a viral infection, F Max McCormick was recalled from the AHL affiliate in Belleville. ... Mark Stone picked up his 200th career point. ... The Red Wings scratched LW David Booth, D Danny DeKeyser and RW Luke Witkowski. ... The Senators wrap up their homestand against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon, their last game before heading to Sweden for two games against the Colorado Avalanche. ... The Red Wings continue a four-game road trip that takes them to western Canada to face the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.