Travis Konecny helps Flyers beat Blackhawks in Prague
PRAGUE (AP) — Travis Konecny had two goals and coach Alain Vigneault won his debut with Philadelphia, directing the Flyers to a season-opening 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
Oskar Lindblom and Michael Raffl also scored for the Flyers in front of a sellout crowd of 17,463 at Prague’s O2 Arena as part of the NHL’s Global Series. Carter Hart stopped 28 shots.
It was the first regular-season game outside of North America in Philadelphia’s 52-year history.
Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for Chicago, which opened the 2009-10 season in Finland. Alex Nylander and Alex DeBrincat also scored.
Vigneault became the 21st coach in Flyers history in April. He also has coached Montreal, Vancouver and the New York Rangers.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — T.J. Oshie scored the tiebreaking goal, Ilya Samsonov stopped 25 shots in his NHL debut and Washington spoiled New York’s season opener.
Jakub Vrana scored his second goal in two games to help the Capitals remain perfect.
Devon Toews scored for the Islanders, and Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Mitch Marner scored twice and added an assist, Frederik Andersen made 28 saves and Toronto beat Columbus.
Auston Matthews had a goal and a pair of assists, and Cody Ceci — who came from Ottawa in an offseason trade — got his first goal as a Maple Leaf. Cam Atkinson scored for the Blue Jackets in a sixth straight season opener, the longest active streak in the NHL.
JETS 5, DEVILS 4, SO
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler scored shootout goals and Winnipeg spoiled the debut of No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes by rallying from a 4-0 deficit to beat New Jersey.
Dmitry Kulikov, Jack Roslovic, Mathieu Perreault and Neal Pionk scored in regulation, and Laurent Brossoit made 35 saves for the Jets. Blake Coleman had two goals for New Jersey, including a spectacular one-handed shot while falling down. Nilita Gusev also scored in his first NHL game, Sami Vatanen added a goal, and newcomer P.K. Subban had two assists.
