Travis Konecny on Friday scored his first career hat-trick, as the Philadelphia Flyers survived losing team MVP Sean Couturier to an injury in a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Konecny scored three goals and had an assist, while Ivan Provorov scored and Oskar Lindblom added an empty-netter for the Flyers.
The Flyers swept their rival in the two-game home set, but can only hope they would not lose Couturier for extended time.
Photo: AFP
Couturier, who last season became the first Flyers player in 33 years to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward, left the game after just two shifts and 45 seconds.
Known as “Coots,” was to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan yesterday on one of his shoulders. He absorbed a stiff check on his left shoulder, which could be the one that was injured.
“When your No. 1 center goes down, it’s always tough to overcome it,” Flyers forward Jake Voracek said.
The Flyers, who won 6-3 on Wednesday, appeared to have an easy time, even with Couturier out.
Konecny scored a power-play goal 7 minutes and 27 seconds into the game, adding a second two minutes later when he crashed the net and pounded in a rebound.
“I have to keep going to the net,” Konecny said. “Everybody says get to the blue paint because bounces do happen when you are in there.”
Provorov made it 3-0 on a slap shot from the circle, which was enough to chase goalie Tristan Jarry, who allowed three goals on only six shots and was benched in favor of Casey DeSmith.
“I don’t think games can be pinned on any one person,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We win as a team and we lose as a team. To his defense, some of the chances were high quality. I thought we were the better team tonight, but we couldn’t convert on ours and they were opportunistic.”
DeSmith held the Flyers in check while the Penguins rallied against Carter Hart.
Sidney Crosby and Brandon Tanev, who scored in the opener, scored goals in the first period, cutting it to 3-2.
Crosby scored his 45th goal against the Flyers, his most against any team. Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr are the only Penguins to score more goals against the Flyers.
“We just couldn’t find that tying goal,” Sullivan said. “But I thought there was plenty of emotion and plenty of pushback from our guys tonight.”
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Lightning 5, Blackhawks 2
‧ Senators 5, Maple Leafs 3
‧ Sabres 1, Capitals 2
‧ Avalanche 8, Blues 0
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