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Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost each tallied twice, leading the Flyers to a 5-2 home opening win against the Devils
PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers won John Tortorella's debut as coach, 5-2 against the New Jersey Devils in the season opener for both teams at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost each scored two goals, and Tony DeAngelo , Kevin Hayes , Ivan Provorov , Tanner Laczynski and James van Riemsdyk each had two assists for Philadelphia. Carter Hart made 35 saves.
"We played hard," Tortorella said. "Do we have to clean some things up? Yes, but if we can just stay with that type of effort ... it's a find-a-way league. Nothing's perfect. Not all minutes are perfect. Sometimes it's ugly. Sometimes it just looks awful. But it's a find-a-way league, and we found a way to win."
Alexander Holtz and Damon Severson scored, and Jesper Bratt had two assists for New Jersey. Mackenzie Blackwood made 20 saves.
"We had a tough stretch in the second period that ultimately hurt us in the game," Severson said. "The result [stinks], but we just have to clean up a few areas in the second and I don't think we're in the position we're in."
Video: NJD@PHI: Konecny scores second goal on power play
Holtz gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 8:01 of the first period when his shot from the left face-off circle slipped between Hart's glove and body on a power play. It was his first career goal in his 10th NHL game.
"I was really happy," Holtz said. "I put in so much work to get to this point. I was really happy. ... I just want to contribute every game. I want to help this team build a winning team."
Wade Allison scored 23 seconds later at 8:24 to tie it 1-1, tapping in a loose puck after Provorov's shot from high on the left side caromed to him at the right of the net.
Konecny put the Flyers ahead 2-1 at 10:39 of the second period with a shot from the high slot that went between the skates of Devils defenseman Brendan Smith on a rush.
Frost scored 23 seconds later to make it 3-1, one-timing a pass from behind the net by Laczynski. It was Laczynski's first career point in his seventh NHL game.
Konecny scored a power-play goal from the top of the right circle at 1:31 of the third period to extend the lead to 4-1.
The forward, who has struggled with his consistency the past two seasons, led the Flyers with four shots on goal but said it's more quality than quantity for him.
"It's just quality shots, where I'm shooting from," Konecny said. "I wasn't trying to shoot from the outside tonight, I was trying to get to the middle. I was trying to get around the net more instead of being outside, trust my linemates to make the plays and the [defensemen] to get their pucks to the net and I'm going to be at the net front."
Video: NJD@PHI: Holtz nets his first NHL goal on power play
Severson scored from the right face-off dot to make it 4-2 at 9:26.
Frost closed the scoring with an empty-net goal that went in off the stick of Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton at 18:01. It was Frost's first multigoal NHL game. Laczynski and van Riemsdyk were given assists on the goal.
Hart, who didn't play in any preseason game in part because of a lower-body injury, stopped all nine shots he faced after Severson scored to preserve the lead.
"I thought the first goal was a bad goal, but then I thought he was outstanding," Tortorella said. "He gave us an opportunity, made key saves at key times."
NOTES: Flyers forward Owen Tippett left the game with an upper-body injury after colliding with Devils forward Ondrej Palat with 36 seconds remaining in the first period. There was no update on his status after the game. Philadelphia already was missing forwards Sean Couturier (upper body) and Cam Atkinson (upper body). They also played without defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (undisclosed). ... DeAngelo, who was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Sewell, New Jersey, played his first game for the Flyers after being acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on July 8. He played a team-high 23:46. ... Provorov had 10 blocked shots. ... Palat was a minus-3 with one shot on goal and two hits in 18:29 of ice time in his first game with the Devils. He signed a five-year contract July 14. ... Devils center Nico Hischier did not play because of a hamstring injury. ... Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim blocked two shots in 21:13 after signing an eight-year, $50 million contract (average annual value of $6.25 million) earlier Thursday.
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