Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost each scored two goals to lift the host Philadelphia Flyers past the New Jersey Devils 5-2 in the season opener for both teams on Thursday.
Wade Allison added one goal for the Flyers, who were victorious in head coach John Tortorella’s debut.
Ivan Provorov, Tony DeAngelo and Kevin Hayes each contributed two assists.
After missing the entire preseason with an upper-body injury, Flyers forward Cam Atkinson was scratched from the game. Owen Tippett was knocked out of the game in the first period with an upper-body injury and didn’t return.
Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, who sat out the entire preseason, made 34 saves.
Alexander Holtz and Damon Severson scored one goal apiece for the Devils, who played without injured captain Nico Hischier. Jesper Bratt had two assists.
Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 20 shots.
The Flyers were whistled for a pair of early penalties, to Tippett and Frost.
New Jersey capitalized on the second penalty to Frost as Holtz scored with the extra skater at 8:01 for a 1-0 lead.
But the Flyers responded quickly and tied the game at 1 when Allison connected just 23 seconds later.
Holtz nearly scored again at 18:15 of the first period, but Hart made a stellar save.
Frost skated in and fired a wrist shot at 4:07 of the second but Blackwood was in position to deflect the puck away.
The Flyers continued to create pressure in the offensive zone and it resulted in a power play at 4:41 of the second as Dougie Hamilton was called for interference. Philadelphia was unable to snap the tie, however.
The Flyers went ahead 2-1 when Konecny scored at 10:39. Frost followed with a goal, the Flyers’ second in 23 seconds, and they held a 3-1 advantage.
Dawson Mercer and Jack Hughes each had strong scoring chances in the final 2:10, but Hart stopped both shots.
Konecny’s second goal, this time on the power play at 1:31 of the third, gave the Flyers a three-goal lead.
The Devils closed within 4-2 when Severson scored at 9:26.
Frost was credited for an empty-net goal at 18:01 though the puck appeared to carom off Hamilton.
–Field Level Media
