PHILADELPHIA — 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 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.

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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 at home.

Rielly took a feed from Toronto captain John Tavares on a two-on-one 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, and 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.

LIGHTNING 5, BLACKHAWKS 1: Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists in his return to the lineup, and the defending Stanley Cup champions opened the season with a victory at home.

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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.

NOTES

PANTHERS: The Florida Panthers got goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky back, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner joining the club on the ice for the first time since training camp started.

Bobrovsky had been on the team’s “unfit to play” list since camp began Jan. 3. That term covers anyone who didn’t participate in camp for any reason, whether it was injury or something related to COVID-19 – either a positive test or potential exposure.

Whatever the reason, Bobrovsky is cleared now. He was on the ice well before the morning practice started, going through some drills and technique work, then remained with teammates for the full-squad session.

Florida was scheduled to begin the season at home Thursday against Dallas, a two-game set that was postponed because the Stars were dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak – 17 positive cases, forcing them to close their facility.

The Panthers’ opener has since been pushed back to Sunday against Chicago, so Bobrovsky has a few more days to get ready and a determination will be made in part after the team sees how well he feels Thursday. If he can’t go Sunday, Florida would likely have Chris Driedger or Sam Montembeault in net for the opener against the Blackhawks.

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