PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers picked up right where the two rivals left off in the playoffs last season.
Jakub Voracek scored the go-ahead goal with 1:31 remaining in the third period to cap his first career NHL hat trick, leading the Flyers to a wild 6-5 victory over the Penguins on Wednesday.
“It was a great game for the players, the fans, for everybody," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was good playoff-type hockey."
It was the kind of wide-open, back-and-forth, playoff-type hockey the two teams displayed during their Eastern Conference quarterfinal round series last season. The Penguins and Flyers combined for 45 goals through the first four games of the series, a best-of-seven set Philadelphia won in six games.
Pittsburgh took a two-goal lead Wednesday before Philadelphia scored the next four goals.
The Flyers had leads of 4-2 and 5-3 in the third period, only to watch as the Penguins rallied, tying the game with 2:03 remaining.
Voracek’s third goal came 33 seconds after Pittsburgh’s Brandon Sutter tied the game on a wraparound.
Voracek, who had a career-best four points Monday against the New York Islanders, threw a shot from behind the goal line, which bounced off Penguins goaltender Tomas Vokoun and into the net.
“I didn’t want to turn it over or do something stupid, so I just tried to throw it to the net," Voracek said.
In other games on Wednesday:
Avalanche 1
Blues 0
DENVER — David Jones scored at 4:43 of overtime and Semyon Varlamov stopped 33 shots, leading Colorado over St. Louis.
Kings 3
Flames 1
CALGARY, Alberta — Trevor Lewis scored the go-ahead goal and Los Angeles swept back-to-back games in Alberta with a victory over Calgary.
