Flyers extend season-opening trend with victory against Blue Jackets

Flyers keep season-opening trend going with win over Blue Jackets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Once again, the Flyers are off to a nice start.

They opened the 2023-24 season by beating the Blue Jackets, 4-2, Thursday night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The win was the first for Keith Jones as president of hockey operations and for Danny Briere as full-time general manager, the club’s new leadership group that has embraced a rebuilding mindset.

But, before they took over, the Flyers had a thing for opening night. They’re now 7-0-2 in their last nine season openers.

Last season, in Year 1 under head coach John Tortorella, the Flyers started 3-0-0 for the first time since 2011-12.

Travis Konecny picked up where he left off last season. He scored a pair of goals, just like he did in the 2022-23 finale, which punctuated a career year in only 60 games.

His second marker Thursday night was a buzzer-beating empty-netter.

Joel Farabee (even strength) and Cam Atkinson (empty net) also scored goals for the Flyers, who never trailed in the game.

Scott Laughton finished with two assists and Carter Hart was very good, converting 31 saves on 33 shots.

• Sean Couturier wasted little time in picking up his first point since Dec. 18, 2021.

Only 3:33 minutes into the game, Couturier and Farabee executed a 2-on-0 give-and-go to hand the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

The play was rather routine but the celebration had to feel good for the 30-year-old center.

Couturier was playing his first regular-season game in almost 22 months, an arduous layoff that was the result of two back surgeries.

Over the course of the preseason, he looked better and better. And all things considered, Couturier was his effective self in the regular-season opener. He took 20 faceoffs (won 11), had the assist and finished with a plus-3 rating in over 20 and a half minutes.

The Flyers definitely missed his presence late in games.

Atkinson had plenty of jump in his return. After missing all of last season because of a neck injury that required surgery in December, the 34-year-old winger was a menace on the forecheck and showed his great anticipation for the puck.

On his 3-1 empty-net goal, the former Blue Jacket won a puck race against former Flyer Ivan Provorov.

• The 25-year-old Hart started in his fifth season opener for the Flyers and was sharp.

He made 14 saves on 15 shots in the first period when the ice was pretty wide open. The second goal he surrendered came with under a minute left in the third period when Columbus emptied its net again for the extra skater, cutting the Flyers’ lead to 3-2.

“We’ve all been here together since Sept. 1 and I think that has been great,” Hart said Tuesday after practice. “We’ve had some new faces here, some new guys come in, some young guys in the lineup. I think it’s important that we get back here early together, start training together and then start hanging out with each other away from the rink. We’ve got a really good group here.”

Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins stopped 33 of the Flyers’ 35 shots.

• Travis Sanheim was excellent in a game-high 26:17 minutes. The Flyers loved his offseason and preseason.

• Bobby Brink won a job in the season-opening lineup after starting camp as a dark horse to make the roster.

The 22-year-old winger played well in 13:16 minutes. He drew a penalty, had a couple of shots and has a chance to really help the Flyers on the power play.

“It’s a player that we don’t have a lot of,” Tortorella said Tuesday. “I think there are some guys that score goals, I think there are some playmakers. I think he’s bundled up in both of those. I think he’s going to be able to score goals and I think he sees the ice [better] than quite a few of our players as we’ve gone about here in camp. … He deserves to be here and we’ll see where we go with it.”

Egor Zamula got his second straight opening-night nod on the back end. The 23-year-old defenseman was solid but the Flyers did shelter him a little bit in 13:49 minutes.

• The Flyers went 0 for 3 on the power play but 4 for 4 on the penalty kill.

• Columbus lost Zach Werenski in the second period. He suffered a quad contusion when Garnet Hathaway was whistled for kneeing the top-pair defenseman along the back boards.

Provorov’s first NHL game not in a Flyers jersey came against his old club. The 26-year-old went scoreless in 25:11 minutes. He had three shots and three blocked shots.

• Rasmus Ristolainen was held out of the lineup and remained on injured reserve because of an undisclosed issue. The Flyers’ decision was likely made out of an abundance of caution.

“It’s nothing serious,” Tortorella said Wednesday. “We’re trying to be careful early in the year.”

• The Flyers are back at it Saturday when they visit Claude Giroux and the Senators (1 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

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