Senators 4, Maple Leafs 3, OT

TORONTO - Dany Heatley didn't take long to justify the Ottawa Senators' faith in him.

Heatley tied the game late in the third period and then scored 2:57 into overtime to give the Senators a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

Earlier in the day, he and the Senators agreed on a long-term contract extension.

"It was nice, it was nice," Heatley said of his big day. "I had a couple of shots early and didn't get the shots through. It was nice to get a couple of chances in the third (and in overtime) and finish."

Heatley ended the game by burying a wrist shot from the middle of Toronto's zone between the legs of goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

"I didn't see anything on that last goal," Heatley said. "(Mike) Fisher made a great play through traffic and I just tried to get it away as fast as I could and find a hole."

The assist was Fisher's only point of the game.

"Heatley came up big for us, obviously in the third period and overtime, and showed everybody why he's a 50-goal scorer," Fisher said.

Antoine Vermette and Daniel Alfredsson scored for the Senators, who gave John Paddock a win in his first game as their head coach.

"We finally picked up in the third," Paddock said. "We were pretty lackadaisical in the second.

"We have to play better than we did tonight in some aspects of the game, but we found a way to win, which this group has got used to doing. And I'm glad they did it tonight."

He wasn't the least bit surprised Heatley was the hero.

"That's what goal-scorers are," he said. "You saw Brett Hull many nights, you don't think he's got anything and all of sudden he gets two chances and he scores. That's Heater. They were both goal-scorer's goals."

Nik Antropov, who coach Paul Maurice put on the first line with Mats Sundin and Jason Blake, scored twice for the Maple Leafs, while Matt Stajan had the other goal.

Heatley has haunted the Maple Leafs throughout his career. In 25 career games against them, he has 22 goals and 19 assists.

Ottawa has won all four times it has provided the opposition for the Maple Leafs' season opener at Air Canada Centre.

Notes: Ottawa had a 30-29 edge in shots. ... Neither team scored on the power play, Ottawa was 0-for-4, Toronto 0-for-7. ... The two teams meet again Thursday night at Scotiabank Place (7 p.m., CBC, Team 1200).