 STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Dany Heatley scored two more goals and Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson had two assists for the Senators, who beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 to split their NHL opening weekend series on Sunday.
Heatley, who also had a goal in Ottawa's 4-3 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday, helped the Senators take three of four points during the season-opening European series.
"As a group it was a big weekend for us," Heatley said. "We were hungry for these two games. Even if we only got one point last night we felt we worked hard. We played well and could easily have won that game. We tried really to come on and battle as a group, and we did a good job at that."
Alex Goligoski spoiled Ottawa goalie Alex Auld's shutout bid with a power-play goal just 2 seconds before the final buzzer in front of another sold-out crowd of 13,699 at Globe Arena.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby set up Goligoski's goal.
Heatley gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:07 in the second period. Alfredsson started the play with a pass from the left circle to Jason Spezza just beside the goal. Heatley, left unchecked on the other side, took a pass from Spezza and put the puck between goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's legs.  Heatley scored again at 12:17 of the third, with Pittsburgh short-handed again, one-timing a slap shot past Fleury from close range. Alfredsson set up the goal with a nice pass.
Antoine Vermette made it 3-0 with 4:10 left of the game, skating in alone and beating Fleury with a low shot.
In the first period, both teams played well defensively. Pittsburgh's power play continued to fizzle, failing twice. In Saturday's opener, the Penguins squandered five straight man-advantage chances in the first period.
This marked the second straight year the NHL began the season in Europe, building off games in 2007 between Los Angeles and Anaheim in London.
The NHL returned to Europe with regular-season openers in both the Swedish and Czech capitals. In Prague, the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning by identical 2-1 scores to sweep that two-game series.
This was the first time in league history two teams began the regular season in Sweden, one of Europe's top ice hockey nations.
This marked the second time Pittsburgh played the first two games of the regular season on international ice. The Penguins traveled to Tokyo to begin the 2000-01 season, splitting a two-game series with the Nashville Predators.
It was the fifth time the NHL began its season outside of North America, with the other three openers held in Japan in 1997, 1998 and 2000.
On Saturday, Pittsburgh will host the New Jersey Devils in its first game back in the United States, and Ottawa will welcome the Detroit Red Wings. |