Dany Heatley justified the Ottawa Senators' faith on Wednesday, scoring two goals in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League season opener for both teams.
Heatley, who inked a multi-year contract extension worth a reported US$45 million over six years earlier on Wednesday, tied the game late in the third period and netted the winner in overtime.
With one year remaining on his current contract, Heatley had been adamant on not negotiating a new deal during the season. But the 26-year-old said he was glad to have the deal done.
"I wanted to stay here all along, so I'm happy that we got a deal done," Heatley said. "We had to agree on a contract, but I didn't have a plan one way or another. I preferred to stay here, and I'm happy I did."
The game was one of four on the schedule on Wednesday as the NHL hit its stride after opening the season with two games in London at the weekend.
Red Wings 3, Ducks 2
Detroit won a shootout thanks to Jiri Hudler's goal and Dominik Hasek's three saves, giving the Red Wings a 3-2 victory over Anaheim in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday in a match of last season's Western Conference finalists.
Anaheim's Todd Bertuzzi scored and set up a go-ahead goal late in the second period for the defending Stanley Cup champions against his former team, but the Red Wings tied it at 2 early in the third.
Tomas Holmstrom tied the game on a power-play goal off a cross-crease assist from Henrik Zetterberg, who had scored midway through the first period.
Anaheim's Ilya Bryzgalov made 40 saves, playing for injured goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Hasek stopped 13 shots.
Canadiens 3, Hurricanes 2, OT
At Raleigh, North Carolina, Saku Koivu scored his second power-play goal of the game 1:05 into overtime to lift Montreal over Carolina.
Mark Streit also scored and Andrei Markov had two assists for the Canadiens, which scored all three goals on the power play.
Moments after Niclas Wallin was called for cross-checking, Montreal worked the puck back to Koivu, who snapped the game-winner past Cam Ward's glove side.
Erik Cole and Bret Hedican scored for Carolina, which began its 10th season in North Carolina by losing its fifth straight opener.
Avalanche 4, Stars 3
In Denver, Paul Stastny got his first career hat trick and Andrew Brunette added three assists for Colorado as the Avalanche downed Dallas in the season opener for both teams.
Wojtek Wolski added a goal and Jaroslav Hlinka had two assists for Colorado. Jeff Halpern, Niklas Hagman and Jussi Jokinen scored for the Stars, who had their 10-game unbeaten streak in season openers snapped. It was the longest active streak in the league.
The Avalanche moved to 16-5-7 in franchise history in season openers, the best winning percentage in the NHL.
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