Senators 4, Panthers 1

OTTAWA - Ray Emery made 31 saves in his first regular-season start of the season to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Saturday night.

Emery, who underwent off-season wrist surgery, did play two games last weekend for the Senators' AHL affiliate in Binghamton, stopping 80 of 86 shots.

Mike Fisher and Shean Donovan scored second-period goals for the Senators, and Christoph Schubert and Daniel Alfredsson added goals in the third.

The Panthers got their lone goal on a power play in the second period when Richard Zednik stuffed a loose puck between Emery and the goal post.

Tomas Vokoun made 43 saves for Florida.

Senators rookie Nick Foligno left in the second period after getting hit from behind into the boards by Panthers defenceman Branislav Mezei.

A penalty was coming on the play, but Fisher scored at 2:09 to give the Senators a 1-0 lead. Foligno suffered a neck sprain and didn't return.

After the Senators took a 2-0 lead on Donovan's first goal of the season at 3:11, Senators defenceman Anton Volchenkov was assessed a major penalty for hitting from behind and a game misconduct when he ran David Booth into the end boards.

Booth stayed on the ice for several minutes before being taken off on a stretcher. He was conscious and alert and able to move his arms and legs, but was taken to the Ottawa Civic Hospital as a precautionary measure.

Zednik scored on the ensuing power play at 5:29.

Notes: Forwards Dany Heatley and Chris Kelly and defenceman Andrej Meszaros have played in all of the Senators' 173 regular-season games since the NHL returned from the lockout in 2005-06 ... Panthers forward Olli Jokinen has played in 302 consecutive games ... The Senators are 7-0 when they score first and 0-1 when the opposition scores first ... A sellout crowd of 19,904 watched the game ... The Senators aren't home again until Nov. 1, when the Atlanta Thrashers visit Scotiabank Place.