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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Evgeni Malkin, Hendrix Lapierre and Filip Hallander scored in the second period and Arturs Silovs stopped 19 shots to help the Pittsburgh Penguins steamroll the Philadelphia Flyers 7-0 on Wednesday night.

Silovs posted his third career shutout in his 57th start. Nick Robertson scored two goals and Ville Koivunen and Egor Chinakhov also scored for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby added an assist.

The Penguins’ season ended on the same Philadelphia ice in April when the Flyers won a first-round playoff series in six games.

The Flyers left the clincher to a roaring ovation on Cam York’s winner. Five months later, the Flyers were soundly booed off the ice – reaching a crescendo after the second period – and the opening night festivities were spoiled for a team trying to become a force in the Eastern Conference.

The Penguins are trying to run it back at least one more time between the longtime core of Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang. Malkin signed a one-year deal to remain in Pittsburgh, and the hope is there’s enough magic left to help put the Penguins in position to win a playoff series for the first time in nearly a decade.

The 40-year-old Malkin ripped a one-timer from the slot early in the second period for the 3-0 lead that also gave him 100 career points against the Flyers. He became the sixth player with at least 100 points against the Flyers. Crosby’s assist on Robertson’s game-opening goal extended his record with 140 career points against Philly.

MAPLE LEAFS 2, ISLANDERS 1

TORONTO (AP) — Easton Cowan had a goal and an assist in the first period and Toronto beat New York for its first victory under coach Jim Hiller.

The Maple Leafs rebounded from a 3-2 home loss to Montreal in their opener Tuesday night, spoiling the Islanders’ first game of the season.

Colton Sissons also scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.

Emil Heineman scored in the third period for New York. Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots.

Sissons redirected his first goal for Toronto at 7:14 of the first period off Nick Paul’s setup. Cowan then shoveled home a power-play rebound with 8:05 left in the period.

Reunited with fellow netminder Sergei Bobrovsky after winning the Stanley Cup together with Florida in 2024, Stolarz was perfect until Heineman scored short-handed with 5:51 left.

TORONTO — The Islanders, as close to a whole product as they can get while Mat Barzal is hurt, looked like a better, faster, more competitive team on Wednesday night than they had in a preseason that verged on alarming. 

Just not better, faster or competitive enough to come away with two points. 

For the fifth time in six years, the Islanders started their season with a defeat, falling to the Maple Leafs 2-1, opening 2026-27 with a performance that had a lot of fight and not enough finish. 

“We all have more to give, especially me,” Matthew Schaefer said. “And I think we’re gonna learn from it.” 

It wasn’t all bad at Scotiabank Arena. But — ironically given his own framing — the good for the Islanders almost exclusively came when Schaefer was on the ice, and that is a problem anyone could have predicted. 

Schaefer, who was part of the headline bill against this year’s No. 1 overall Gavin McKenna, picked up right where he left off last season, his adjustment to the right side looking far more seamless than McKenna’s to the NHL. 

Adam Pelech and Schaefer aside, though, the other two defense pairs looked like they were still getting their sea legs. 

As was the case in preseason, the Alexander Romanov-Ryan Pulock pair looked rocky. Logan Stanley, making his Islanders debut alongside Tony DeAngelo, seemed to still be getting his bearings — and was victimized on the Leafs’ opening goal, when Colton Sissons beat him to Nick Paul’s feed for a successful redirection. 

Five minutes after Sissons opened the scoring, the Leafs doubled their lead on the power play. Morgan Rielly batted the puck to keep it in off Ryan Pulock’s clearing attempt and Easton Cowan cleaned up the garbage on the ensuing blast from Jack Roslovic. 

The Islanders were cleaner defensively after that, but the damage had been done. And offensively, it took them far too much time to get going. 

“I think we can get some more pucks [in front],” Pulock told The Post. “I think we can get some more traffic there. I think in today’s game, in this league, it’s hard to beat a goalie when he sees the puck.” 

Leafs coach Jim Hiller threw a huge test at Victor Eklund right away, matching Auston Matthews’ line against the rookie’s trio that included JG Pageau and Emil Heineman. 

That made for an underwhelming night for Eklund, though, as coach Pete DeBoer said, he grew into the game. He was also far from the only one. 

The second line was barely noticeable aside from Cal Ritchie’s struggles, and by late in the second period, DeBoer had moved Anthony Duclair — perhaps the Islanders’ best offensive forward on the night — into Matias Maccelli’s spot, demoting the latter to the fourth line. 

Shortly thereafter, DeBoer put the entire lineup in the blender, hoping to spark them in the third period. Ironically, when the Islanders did get on the board, it was shorthanded, with Emil Heineman finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Bo Horvat at 14:09 of the third. 

Cutting the deficit to 2-1 with nearly six minutes to go gave the Islanders the opportunity they’d been looking for all night. But they couldn’t use it to squeeze out a point. 

There were stretches, amid a game that wasn’t all that open, where the Islanders created extended pressure and forced Anthony Stolarz into action. Duclair, specifically, looked like the best version of himself, and had the Islanders’ best chance of the night when he skated across the crease and forced Stolarz to stretch all the way out to make a save in the third. 

While the power play looked just as bad as it did last season, with an 0-for-4 performance that made it culpable, you could at least squint at parts of the 5-on-5 game and see building blocks. 

“Work in progress,” DeBoer said of his team’s 5-on-4 game. 

That could have applied to the whole thing.

Beat reporter Stefen Rosner contributed to this story 

TORONTO -- The New York Islanders (0-1-0) got their season off on the wrong footing, falling 2-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-1-0) on Wednesday night inside Scotiabank Arena

Their power play went 0-for-4, including two opportunities in the third period, while the penalty kill went 3-for-4, with a third-period shorthanded goal from Emil Heineman. Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves in the defeat.

The game began with a flurry of chances for the Islanders. New York started hot against the Leafs, who had played the night before, starting their season with a back-to-back.

But, despite the early chances, Toronto struck first with a Colton Sissons redirection.

COLTON SISSONS' FIRST AS A MAPLE LEAF! 🍁 pic.twitter.com/LV6Zcohsf4

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 1, 2026

That was just the Leafs second shot of the game, with the opportunity coming off a Tony DeAngelo turnover. 

Then, at 11:55 of the second period, the Maple Leafs doubled their lead when Easton Cowan buried a rebound on the power play to make it a 2-0 game:

FIRST 'YEEEHAWWW' OF THE SEASON! pic.twitter.com/ZMiTJSvFRH

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 1, 2026

The lack of rebound support for Sorokin there is a big problem, and is an area of concern that Islanders' Head Coach Peter DeBoer called out during the preseason as an issue 

During that period, Anthony Duclair got bumped up to the second line, with Pete DeBoer sending former Leafs forward Matias Maccelli to the fourth line. 

DeBoer jumbled more lines later, reuniting Heineman with Bo Horvat to no avail.

The Islanders' offense came up short, peppering 27 shots but scoring just once on a shorthanded jailbreak from Horvat and Heineman.

Up next for the Islanders: The Islanders host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at 7:30 PM ET for their home opener.

Pregame

Blake Lizotte is able to come off IR and play tonight, so the Pens have this lineup.

First period

Great opening 20 for the Penguins, they are all over the puck and spend most of the time out of their own end. Philadelphia doesn’t even manage a shot on goal over about the last 12:25 minutes of the period.

Nick Robertson scores the first goal of the season, the play happens before that. Rasmus Ristolainen stepped up and delivered a big open ice hit to Sidney Crosby. Crosby popped up and kept going, eventually getting the puck from Trevor van Riemsdyk and feeding Kris Letang. Letang did a masterful job to show shot until passing down for Robertson to tip the puck in. 1-0 Pens.

The Penguins get the first power play of the game, no dice.

Later, several Flyers decided it was a good time for a line change, which it wasn’t since Sam Girard had the puck. Heads up play by Ville Koivunen to recognize what was developing and get to the middle of the ice. Girard’s pass was on the money and Koivunen’s go-to backhand deke to the five hole beats Dan Vladar.

Very clean start to the season with a couple of goals and not giving up a lot to the Flyers’ offense. Shots are 12-5, any time the period ends to the wondrous sounds of Flyer fans booing is a good one.

Second period

The Flyers have used intermission well to regroup, as you know Rick Tocchet would. They look more coherent at the start of the second, even though the bottom would drop out for them soon enough.

Porter Martone cross-checks Hendrix Lapierre after the whistle, and whaddya know, the refs call it. The power play looks disjointed until late in it Evgeni Malkin works a give-and-go with Lapierre. Lapierre’s return pass is quickly put on net by Malkin and it finds room up top. 3-0.

The pedal stays down, Lapierre gets open space and jumps up the ice. He blisters a shot short-side on Vladar. 4-0.

There’s no mercy tonight, Lapierre’s all over the puck again skating around the offensive end, he wheels all around the net and gives a pass to Girard. Girard gets the puck to the net, the rebound drops for Filip Hallander to slide into the net. 5-0 game.

Robertson finished a pretty standard looking check and that became a bridge to far for the frustrated Flyers who weren’t able to get much going. Three Flyers dogpile Robertson, the Pens jump in there to help out, Pittsburgh ends up shorthanded as a result, which to be fair was something of a boarding by Robertson to kick off the sequence before the disproportionate but expected overreaction. Penalty killed.

Period ends and we’re treated to that delightful noise of boos from the crowd. They certainly didn’t have anything to cheer about to this point.

Third period

Carlile goes to the penalty box for interference, the Flyers power play makes it really easy to kill off.

Connor Dewar gets a penalty and the Pittsburgh PK gets on the board. Robertson gets on the ice with the PK group, thanks to Dewar being in the box in the first place, and makes the most of it. Robertson’s shot is deflected to the end wall, the bounce off it hits Vladar’s skate and redirects in the net. (Where was this in April???) 6-0.

Late in the game, Travis Konecny does what he does to take a run at Girard up high and takes a penalty. The Pens put out their top power play players, probably more out of the opportunity to get them work so early in the season more than a response to the unseemly play. It works just the same as a satisfying FAFO type of moment for Konecny and the Flyers when Egor Chinakhov tips in an Erik Karlsson point shot. Chili goal, 7-0.

Some thoughts

• It’s low-hanging fruit to point it out the obvious in a big win where everyone has their good moments and 14 players picked up at least a point – but man it stood out for how well the new additions performed. One of the newbies figured into the first six goals scored. Lapierre scored a goal and added an assist. Robertson did what he does and put the puck in the back of the net. Twice. Korczak and Carlile played quiet (as they should) but perfectly competently. van Riemsdyk made a subtle but important play in puck support to start the sequence of the first goal. He is a solid player that stops a lot with his positioning and stick. Korczak was activated and moving all around the offensive zone, picking up two assists. It’s only one of 84 but safe to say the newcomers fit right in and helped the cause.
• Girard was noticeably very good too. He was knocking pucks down, his vision and puck moving was on display early. Good to see a strong start for him in his first full year with the Penguins with two assists and even better skating and game control.
• Speaking of strong starts, it’s possible no one needed the confidence boost of a goal more than Koivunen. The lift from scoring can be very real, he showed what he did best on that play by using his hockey IQ to recognize an opportunity, then converted with a skilled move. Good stuff from him, hopefully it will go a long way towards helping him to raise his game.
• Lapierre had some of that confidence on display in the second period, helping to lead that makeshift group. You wouldn’t know that from watching. Hallander was lucky not to get called for slashing on the fourth goal where the refs didn’t see him take the stick out of an opponent’s hand but was rewarded from the front of the net with a beautifully ugly goal. Nice reward for him working back from the uncertainty of blood clots last year. Koivunen got his goal as mentioned above, Lapierre’s speed and puck skills was the straw strirring the drink.
• Penguin playoff nemesis Dan Vladar picked up a minor injury early in the week, at this point surely there’s going to be a lot of talk in Flyer world about whether or not he should have been playing tonight. He wasn’t outright bad but wasn’t sharp like he was in the spring on some of those goals against. Compounding the issue is that the Flyers play again tomorrow night, so making a goalie change wasn’t really something they wanted to do. Amazingly enough, Vladar made a couple of really good saves too at times, this game legitimately could have easily ended up with a more lopsided score.
• On the other side, Arty Silovs would sign up for a lot more nights like this. At one point in the third period the Pens had blocked almost as many shots (10) as the Flyers had shots on goal (12). Most of that was done with active sticks deflecting pucks away from the net. A lot of that was the new influence with Korczak and van Riemsdyk credited with two blocked shots a piece. Felt like more by both of them. Either way, Silovs barely needed to break a sweat in this one, the number of quality chances he saw was low. He handled everything with ease.
• Had a note written out that about the only thing for the Pens that they didn’t quite get up and running today was Chinakhov. Then he scored a late power play goal, so that thought gets deleted real quick and remove all the nitpicking. Everyone ate tonight, both power play groups scored. The PK killed off everything and scored. The goalie was fine with what he had to do. The new players showed exactly why the team wanted them. What more can you say?
• Second straight opening night shutout win for Dan Muse (and Silovs too for that matter). The Pens beat the Rangers 3-0 to kick-off last season. That game was a lot more competitive and sealed with two empty net goals. Tonight was much more of a statement and essentially over by early in the second period.

Can’t win ‘em all if you don’t get the first one. That aside, almost a picture perfect opening night for the Pens. They looked ready to play and ran all over their opponent. Considering that opponent, it doesn’t get much better than that. Great opening statement, we’ll see how the Pens follow it up in their next game on Saturday night.

The defensive pairing that began the Rangers season opener in the spotlight because of Alberts Smits’ debut ended up back in it by the final minutes with Braden Schneider’s blunder.

As the three Blueshirts forwards changed late in the third period of their 3-0 loss to the Bruins on Tuesday, Schneider ended up alone on the rush and got burned by a JJ Peterka deke that went between the defenseman’s legs.

Peterka ripped a shot past Igor Shesterkin, and 52 seconds after Boston broke a scoreless tie, the Bruins doubled their lead — with Schneider’s gaffe emerging as one of the lasting images of the night.

“You get that shift and you get caught out there a little too long,” Schneider told The Post on Wednesday after the Rangers practiced in Tarrytown. “I get caught with a bad gap, and, I mean, I made a bad read. Not much you can do. He made a good play and just try to move on from it.”

It marked a rough start to a critical campaign for Schneider, who was a restricted free agent at the end of last season and returned to the Rangers on a one-year deal.

Next summer, he’ll likely be in the same position again, and he expressed a desire to move past his individual woes last season — when he was thrust into a larger role with Adam Fox’s injury and ended up being on the ice for a Blueshirts-worst 63 goals at 5-on-5 — in an interview with The Post’s Mollie Walker on Tuesday.

But the Schneider and Smits pairing will continue to face plenty of critique.

For Schneider, it’ll revolve around his Rangers future still being uncertain.

And for Smits, who skated 16:54 while recording two hits, a blocked shot and a pair of giveaways, it’ll be for gauging whether the 18-year-old and No. 5 overall pick in June’s draft encounters any growing pains.

“I thought when the game started, it was happening fast for him out there,” head coach Mike Sullivan said of Smits, “but I thought as the game went on he settled down. … I think when he gets himself in trouble is when he tries to do a little bit too much. Try to make a soft play to the middle, and that’s where sometimes you gotta make a simple play.

“But I think as a young player, you’re gonna make those type of mistakes — and you’ll learn through those experiences, and our job is to try to help him do that.”

Defenseman Vincent Iorio, who was day to day with a lower-body injury, was assigned to AHL Hartford after clearing waivers.

That’ll give the Wolf Pack a blue line that includes Iorio, Urho Vaakanainen, Marc Del Gaizo, Dennis Cholowski and Drew Fortescue — a collection of players with 497 combined NHL games between the regular season and playoffs.

When asked about the Rangers having a stretch of five games in eight days to open the season following a condensed training camp, and whether that’s a good thing, Sullivan said, “I’ll tell you after the five games.”

“If we can build some momentum and have some success,” Sullivan said, “we’re gonna like it, right? … I think it’s good in a way that it gets you in the routine right away. You start playing games, and it’s hard to simulate that type of competitive action in a practice environment. With a shortened training camp, I think it will give us an opportunity to build more of a conditioning — a fitness foundation for game situations.”