TORONTO - Jose Theodore took pleasure in routing the Maple Leafs in their season opener.
Theodore made 21 saves and the Canadiens scored three times in the second period to beat Toronto 4-0 Saturday night.
"It's always a little fun to beat the Leafs, especially in their home opener," Theodore said. "These games are little bit more special. The fans are more into it. There is a lot of intensity on the ice."
The Maple Leafs, losers in the first round of the playoffs last season, were booed heartily as they left the ice.
Mike Ribeiro, Richard Zednik and Sheldon Souray scored in the second for the Canadiens, who won at the Air Canada Centre for just the second time in 12 games.
THRASHERS 4, CAPITALS 3: Ronald Petrovicky scored twice as Atlanta won in Washington for the first time. Randy Robitaille and Ilya Kovalchuk also scored for the Thrashers in their first game since the funeral of teammate Dan Snyder on Friday in Elmira, Ontario. Snyder died Oct. 5, six days after he suffered a severe brain injury when a Ferrari driven by teammate Dany Heatley crashed.
DEVILS 2, HURRICANES 1: Sergei Brylin and Jamie Langenbrunner scored and Martin Brodeur stopped 30 shots for visiting New Jersey. Rod Brind'Amour hit the post less than two minutes into the third, almost breaking up Brodeur's shutout bid. The Carolina center then scored with 71/2 minutes left.
BRUINS 1, PANTHERS 1: Olli Jokinen scored early in the third to lift host Florida to a point. Sergei Samsonov scored for the Bruins, who failed to win at least one of their first three games for the first time since 1999-2000 when Boston did not win until its 10th game. Florida goalie Roberto Luongo made 32 saves. Andrew Raycroft, making his first start of the season for the Bruins, stopped 34.
BLUE JACKETS 5, RANGERS 0: David Vyborny and Darryl Sydor each had a goal and an assist, and Marc Denis posted his 10th career shutout for host Columbus. "That was as good a performance as I've seen us play, to be quite honest, in three years," Columbus coach and general manager Doug MacLean said.
Also, Columbus activated left wing Geoff Sanderson from injured reserve, signed Anders Eriksson to a one-year deal then sent the defenseman and center Sean Pronger to Syracuse of the AHL.
FLYERS 3, PENGUINS 3: Aleksey Morozov made up for a costly turnover with a tying goal. His score with 7:12 left brought visiting Pittsburgh back from a three-goal deficit. Philadelphia led 3-0 after less than 18 minutes.
Also, the league suspended Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik from the game for kneeing Tim Gleason of the Kings on Friday.
RED WINGS 3, SENATORS 2 (OT): Nicklas Lidstrom scored Detroit's third power-play goal of the game 2:52 into overtime to lift visiting Detroit. Lidstrom's slap shot from the point beat goalie Patrick Lalime with three seconds left in Zdeno Chara's interference penalty, giving Detroit its second win in as many games. Trailing 2-1, Ottawa drew even on Radek Bonk's power-play goal 9:28 into the third.
Also, the Senators signed restricted free-agent right wing Martin Havlat to a one-year contract. Havlat had made arrangements to fly home to the Czech Republic before he came to terms two days after turning down a reported offer of $1.35-million.
ISLANDERS 6, SABRES 0: Rick DiPietro made 13 saves for his first career shutout and Mark Parrish and Alexei Yashin each scored twice for visiting New York, which gave coach Steve Stirling his first NHL victory. He replaced Peter Laviolette in June. Buffalo has been shut out in consecutive games to start the season for the first time.
STARS 3, PREDATORS 1: Mike Modano scored a power-play goal in the third to cap Dallas' win. Modano, stationed in the middle of the right circle, one-timed a pass from Sergei Zubov past Nashville goaltender Tomas Vokoun.
FLAMES 3, SHARKS 2: Shean Donovan scored the decisive goal early in the third and Jamie McLennan earned his first win in over 11 months for host Calgary.
AVALANCHE: President and general manager Pierre Lacroix agreed to a long-term contract extension.
KINGS: Defenseman Mattias Norstrom (bruised chest) was placed on injured reserve.
