Dany Heatley scored 2:57 into overtime to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. The decisive goal, his second of the game, showed his employers they weren’t wrong in signing him to a new 6-year, $45 million deal a few hours before the season opener.

"It feels nice, no question," Heatley said. "It was a good day.”

"Getting the deal done before the season was great and then getting the win here was even better."

After previously tying the score late in the third period, Heatley netted the winning goal with a wrist shot from the middle of Toronto's zone between the legs of goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

Antoine Vermette and Daniel Alfredsson also stepped up and got their names written on the score board to give John Paddock a good tenure start with the Senators.

With one year left of the current contract, Heatley had been unwavering on not negotiating a new agreement during the season. But after the contract was signed he expressed his satisfaction.

"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."

Two of Maple Leafs goals came from Nik Antropov, put on the first line by Coach Paul Maurice, and the third was netted by Matt Stajan. Both goal keepers, Martin Gerber and Andrew Raycroft, finished the game with 26 saves.

Heatley has always been in great form when playing the Maple Leafs. Throughout his career he played them 25 times and netted 22 goals past their keepers and added 19 assists. The Senators clashed with the Maple Leafs in the season opener at Air Canada Centre on four occasions and all of them ended with Ottawa on top.

Tradition was observed at the Air Canada Centre as the 48th Highlanders marching band played before the game, as they have in every Toronto home opener since Maple Leaf Gardens opened on Nov. 12, 1931.