Senators Power Past the Canadiens, 5-2

Jason Spezza is ready for a full season on the Ottawa Senators’ ever-dangerous power play.

Spezza and Petr Schastlivy scored power-play goals in the first period to send the Senators to a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at Ottawa in each team’s season opener.

Chris Neil, Chris Phillips and Daniel Alfredsson also scored for the Senators, who had the NHL’s second-ranked power play last season before falling one win short of advancing to the Stanley Cup finals.

“We have two great power-play units and we have tons of talent on both of them so it’s always fun to get out there on the power play and move the puck around,” said Spezza, who played 33 games as a rookie last season.

Ottawa’s power-play unit excelled, scoring on two of its first three opportunities while building a 3-1 lead in the first period. Spezza, Alfredsson and Phillips each had two points for the Senators, and Patrick Lalime made 27 saves.

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Washington 6, New York Islanders 1 -- Peter Bondra scored twice, and Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist as the Capitals opened their 30th season with a win at Washington.

Jagr showed that he might be worth his $11 million a year contract as he begins his third season in Washington. The Capitals were 10-1 last season when both Jagr and Bondra scored.

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Florida 3, Carolina 1 -- Kristian Huselius scored 7:37 into the third period at Sunrise, Fla., to give the Panthers their first season-opening win since beating Washington, 4-3, in 1999.

The Panthers recorded three of their league-low eight home victories last season against the Hurricanes.

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Philadelphia 2, Buffalo 0 -- Mark Recchi and Michal Handzus scored power-play goals and goaltender Jeff Hackett was perfect at Philadelphia in his Flyer debut. Hackett stopped 17 shots for his 24th career shutout.

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Edmonton 5, San Jose 2 -- Raffi Torres scored the tiebreaking goal at Edmonton, Canada, in his Oiler debut. In a pre-game ceremony, Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr had his No. 31 retired, joining Oiler greats Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Al Hamilton.

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Vancouver 4, Calgary 1 -- At Vancouver, Artem Chubarov scored a goal and assisted on another to help the Canucks beat the Flames. Rookie Jason King scored his first NHL goal, and Todd Bertuzzi also scored for Vancouver.