Farabee, Flyers top Penguins
Joel Farabee had a goal and three assists, Michael Raffl, James van Riemsdyk and Nolan Patrick also scored to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday in the first game of the NHL season.
The unconventional opener was decided when Raffl scored from the slot and beat Tristan Jarry 5:37 into the third for a 4-3 lead and the only cheers for the go-ahead goal came from Flyers fans watching at home.
The Flyers pounced from there -- Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes scored 20 seconds apart to turn this one into a rout.
Mark Jankowski and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins.
Crosby’s goal was about expected against a team he has tortured like no other. He was greeted by strange silence in the empty arena -20,000 Flyers fans generally lose their minds chanting “Crosby sucks!” - and he simply skated away without a boo to be heard after his tying goal.
Crosby’s 44th goal against the Flyers, more than any other team in the league, in 71 games was one of his best. Carter Hart tried to clear the puck from behind the net and his lazy pass was batted down by Crosby and poked in an empty net to make it 2-2.
Jankowski, who scored just five goals last season, scored the first one of this season 5:12 into the game.
Erik Gustafsson had to settle for assists on two shots that seemed destined to find the back of the net in the first period. His first slapper knocked off van Riemsdyk’s stick to tie it 1-1. Gusafsson’s next shot was deflected by Patrick with 7.8 seconds to make it 2-1.
Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 4 — Morgan Rielly scored at 3:24 of overtime to give Toronto a win over Montreal.
Rielly took a feed from Toronto captain John Tavares on a 2-on-1 to beat Montreal goalie Carey Price and end a chaotic extra period where both teams had chances to get the victory.
William Nylander had two goals and an assist for Toronto, while Tavares added a goal and two assists. Jimmy Vesey chipped in with his first goal for the Maple Leafs, and Frederik Andersen had 28 saves.
Josh Anderson scored twice in his debut for Montreal, while Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Tatar also scored. Jonathan Drouin and Jeff Petry each added two assists inside an empty Scotiabank Arena because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Price finished with 29 saves in the first of 10 meetings between the clubs in 2021.
After the Leafs erased a two-goal deficit late in the second period, Anderson got his second of the night 1:03 into the third by cutting around Tavares and firing a shot that beat Andersen under his right arm to make it 4-3.
The Toronto goalie then denied Anderson his first-career hat trick on the doorstep a few minutes later after Suzuki stepped past Rielly.
One of the Leafs’ lesserknown offseason additions, Vesey took advantage of a fortuitous bounce with 10:33 left in regulation when Drouin’s clearing attempt hit one of the referees in the corner. Nylander jumped on the loose puck and quickly fed Vesey, who beat a surprised Price.
Auston Matthews, who scored in his four previous
openers, followed that up by ripping a shot off the post behind the Montreal goalie that stayed to set the stage for overtime.
Toronto, Montreal and Canada’s five other NHL franchises are playing in the North Division necessitated by border regulations related to non-essential travel.
Lightning 5, Blackhawks 1 — Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists in his return to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup, and the defending Stanley Cup champions opened the season with a big victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Lightning captain, who played just one game in the playoffs, has points in 17 consecutive games — including 14 goals.
Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat and Mathieu Joseph also scored to help Tampa Bay win its seventh consecutive season opener. Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn each finished with two assists.
Andrei Vasilevskiy had 23 saves.
Dylan Strome scored for Chicago, and Malcolm Subban stopped 28 shots.
Tampa Bay raced out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period on Palat’s rebound goal on the power play, Joseph’s redirect that bounced in off Subban, and Cirelli’s deflection of Erik Cernak’s shot.