Konecny scores hat-trick, Flyers beat Penguins for 2-game sweep
PHILADELPHIA, Jan 16, (AP): Travis Konecny had a hat-trick and the Philadelphia Flyers survived losing team MVP Sean Couturier to an injury in a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ivan Provorov and Oskar Lindblom also scored to help the Flyers sweep the seasonopening series. Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Couturier became the first Flyers player in 33 years to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward. He was plowed into the boards and may have hurt his left shoulder. He left after just two shifts and 45 seconds. He scored 22 goals last season and was voted team MVP.
Sidney Crosby and Brandon Tanev scored for Pittsburgh.
Lightning 5, Blackhawks 2
In Tampa, Florida, Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist each and defending champion Tampa Bay completed a two-game sweep of Chicago.
Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman also each had a goal and an assist, Alex Killorn also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 shots for Tampa Bay. The Lightning won the opener 5-1 on Wednesday night and are 16-1-2 against the Blackhawks since the 2010-11 season.
Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane scored for Chicago.
Avalanche 8, Blues 0
In Denver, Gabriel Landeskog scored his
199th and 200th goals and Colorado rebounded from an opening-night loss to St. Louis to rout the Blues.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen scored his 100th goal and added an assist, and Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri also had a goal and an assist, and Joonas Donskoi and Devon Toews added goals.
Philipp Grubauer faced just 20 shots in his 12th career shutout, and Cale Makar had three assists.
St. Louis won 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Capitals 2, Sabres 1
In Buffalo, N.Y., Vitek Vanecek made 30 saves in his NHL debut, Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist and Washington beat Buffalo to sweep the season-opening series.
Jakub Vrana scored his second goal of the season for the Capitals, 6-4 winners over the Sabres on Thursday night. Rasmus Ristolainen scored for Buffalo, and Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots.
Wilson gave Washington the lead for good midway through the third period. Nicklas Backstrom dropped the puck off in the right circle for Wilson for a wrist shot over Ullmark’s glove.
Senators 5, Maple Leafs 3
In Ottawa, Ontario, Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Matt Murray made 20 saves in his Ottawa debut and the Senators beat Toronto in their first game in more than 10 months.
Thomas Chabot, Austin Watson, Derek Stepan and Chris Tierney also scored for Ottawa. John Tavares had a goal and assist for Toronto,
Zach Hyman and Alexander Kerfoot also scored and Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots.
The game was the Senators’ first in 310 days after they unknowingly took part in the final contest of the 2019-20 regular season March 11 in Los Angeles against the Kings. The league suspended its schedule the following day because of the coronavirus pandemic.