SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Pavel Bure is a back with a bang.

In his first game since a serious knee injury, Bure scored a power-play goal and Ray Whitney added a pair of scores and an assist as the Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals 4-3 in the season opener on Saturday night.

	Viktor Kozlov scored for the Panthers Saturday and led the team with six shots on goal.

Bure, the Panthers' star right wing, was seeing action for the first time since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and having surgery March 29. He scored 13 goals and had three assists in 11 games last year with Florida after forcing a trade from Vancouver.

"Surprisingly, I was feeling very good tonight," Bure said. "It was a huge bonus for me to score."

It didn't take long for Bure to make his presence felt.

Just 3:28 into the game, Bure put the Panthers up 1-0 on a power-play goal off a deflection. Jaroslav Spacek controlled the puck near the Washington blue line and made a cross-ice pass to Robert Svehla.

Svehla sent a slap shot from the point toward the net, and Bure deflected it past Olaf Kolzig.

"Great players seem to have the ability to rise to the occasion," said Panthers captain Scott Mellanby. "It didn't take him long to get the first goal. I'm not surprised, you come to expect it."

The goal by Bure was the Panthers' first ever against the Capitals in the National Car Rental Center. Washington recorded two shutouts last season on Florida's home ice.

It also energized the crowd of 16,767, which didn't have much to cheer about during an 0-4-3 preseason.

"I was nervous a bit," said Bure after missing all of the exhibition season.

It didn't show.

"He's always been like that," said Capitals coach Ron Wilson, who coached Bure with the Canucks. "I don't even think Pavel has to practice, he just steps on the ice and dominates."

He wasn't the only one that played at a higher level as the Panthers displayed more emotion than they did for much of a forgettable 1998-99 season.

"Anytime you add Pavel Bure to a team, it makes your team quicker because everybody's trying to keep up with him," said Mark Parrish.

The Capitals tied the game on a goal at 5:52 by Jan Bulis off a great pass into the slot by Steve Konowalchuk, who was behind the Florida goal.

Whitney's backhander past Kolzig with 1:39 left in the first gave Florida a 2-1 lead and his second goal, 2:59 into the second period, made it 3-1.

"We've got a lot of new players and it's encouraging," said Whitney. "But it's not a time to bust open the champagne yet. We still have to be humble."

With nine seconds left on a Capitals power play, Jaroslav Svejkovsky beat Sean Burke with a shot from the top of the left circle.

Florida stretched the lead back to two goals on a shot by Viktor Kozlov at 15:22 of the second. Bulis scored his second goal of the game with 3:01 remaining in the third period past a sprawling Burke, to bring the Capitals within one.

Burke stopped 31 shots to notch his 200th career NHL win, something that was overshadowed by the offensive show.

"Obviously, it shows that I've been around for a while more than anything," Burke said.