PRAGUE — Travis Konecny had two goals and Coach Alain Vigneault won his debut with Philadelphia, directing the Flyers to a season-opening 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

Oskar Lindblom and Michael Raffl also scored for the Flyers in front of a sellout crowd of 17,463 at Prague’s O2 Arena as part of the NHL’s Global Series. Carter Hart stopped 28 shots.

It was the first regular-season game outside of North America in Philadelphia’s 52-year history.

Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for Chicago, which opened the 2009-10 season in Finland. Alex Nylander and Alex DeBrincat also scored.

The Blackhawks are hoping to return to the playoffs after a two-year absence, but defensemen Dennis Gilbert and Slater Koekkoek each made a costly mistake after the blue liners struggled last year.

Konecny turned Gilbert’s turnover into a 1-0 lead for Philadelphia 6:24 into the first, beating Corey Crawford on the glove side.

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Lindblom was credited with a power-play goal 6:28 into the second when his shot bounced off the crossbar and was deflected by Koekkoek into its own net. Konecny then converted a backhander with 1:56 left in the period, giving the Flyers a 3-1 lead.

Chicago played without defensemen Calvin de Haan and Connor Murphy due to injuries.

Vigneault became the 21st coach in Flyers history in April. He also has coached Montreal, Vancouver and the New York Rangers.

He was behind the bench as Philadelphia held off Chicago in the 26th NHL regular-season game played in Europe, and the fifth in Prague.

The Blackhawks pulled within one when DeBrincat one-timed a pass from Kane past Hart with 13 seconds left in the second. It was DeBrincat’s first goal since he signed a three-year contract extension worth $19.2 million.

Raffl responded for Philadelphia in the third, skating around the net and sliding a backhand between Crawford’s pads for a 4-2 lead at 9:48.

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Kane scored with 2:07 remaining, but the Flyers held on.

Crawford finished with 34 saves. Nylander scored in the first period in his first game since he was acquired in an offseason trade with Buffalo.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1: Mitch Marner scored twice and added an assist, Frederik Andersen made 28 saves and Toronto  won at Columbus, Ohio.

Auston Matthews had a goal and a pair of assists, and Cody Ceci – who came from Ottawa in an offseason trade – got his first goal as a Maple Leaf to help spoil Columbus’ home opener.

Cam Atkinson scored for the Blue Jackets in a sixth straight season opener, the longest active streak in the NHL.

CAPITALS 2, ISLANDERS 1: T.J. Oshie scored the tie-breaking goal, Ilya Samsonov stopped 25 shots in his NHL debut, and Washington  won at Uniondale, New York.

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Jakub Vrana got his second goal in two games to help the Capitals remain perfect.

Devon Toews scored for the Islanders and Semyon Varlamov, making his Islanders debut, made 26 saves.

JETS 5, DEVILS 4: Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler scored shootout goals and Winnipeg spoiled the debut of No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes by rallying from a 4-0 deficit to win at Newark, New Jersey.

Dmitry Kulikov, Jack Roslovic, Mathieu Perreault and Neal Pionk scored for the Jets. Laurent Brossoit was outstanding in making 35 saves, including three in the shootout, including one by Hughes.

Blake Coleman had two goals for New Jersey, including a spectacular one-handed shot while falling down. Nilita Gusev also tallied in his first NHL game and Sami Vatanen added a goal for the Devils, and defenseman P.K. Subban had two assists.

NOTES

BLUES:  The St. Louis Blues signed Brayden Schenn to an eight-year contract extension worth $52 million, locking up one of their top centers after their run to the Stanley Cup championship last season.

Schenn, 28, was acquired in a trade with Philadelphia in 2017 and put up a career-high 28 goals the following season and 70 points overall. Last season, Schenn had 54 points in the regular season and 12 more in the playoff run.

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