NHL: Tampa Bay 5, Carolina 2

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Vaclav Prospal had one goal and two assists Wednesday night as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Carolina, 5-2.

Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Dan Boyle and Tim Taylor each scored once and John Grahame made 24 saves for the Lightning, who finally got to raise their Stanley Cup championship banner from the 2003-04 season and improved to 7-4-2 all-time in season openers.

Eric Staal and Radim Vrbata scored a goal each, Martin Gerber stopped 15 shots in the first two periods, and Cam Ward made 10 saves in the third period for the Hurricanes, who fell to 6-15-5 in season openers.