ALAIN VIGNEAULT

The Philadelphia Flyers have hired John Tortorella as their new coach, hoping the veteran can help lead them to their first Stanley Cup since 1975.

Erik Johnson had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche beat Philadelphia 7-5 to hand the Flyers their ninth straight loss just hours after they fired coach Alain Vigneault.

Alex Ovechkin left Washington's preseason finale against Philadelphia because of a lower-body injury.

The NHL has reached out to Robin Lehner to set up an interview after the goaltender made several accusations on social media.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice to move within one goal of Marcel Dionne for fifth place on the NHL’s career goals list as the Washington Capitals downed the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3.

Buffalo Sabres celebrate a goal by center Curtis Lazar (27) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)BUFFALO, N.Y. – Embarrassment for Brandon Montour and the Buffalo Sabres turned into relief on Wednesday night. The Sabres ended their 18-game skid — the NHL’s longest in 17 years — with a resounding 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. AdThe Sabres also snapped a 0-9-2 home skid, one short of matching a franchise record set during the 1990-91 season. After Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov scored 3:50 into the second period, Buffalo responded by closing the period with goals from Fogarty and Casey Mittelstadt.

Members of the Colorado Avalanche, in white, and the Vegas Golden Knights, red play during the first period of the Outdoor Lake Tahoe NHL hockey game in Stateline, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. The NHL decided to halt the game Saturday afternoon because bright sun and temperatures hovering around freezing led to poor ice conditions that had players and officials repeatedly falling because of holes on the ice. We obviously didn’t want anyone getting hurt. The ice was great.”But the delay didn't alter Bettman's commitment to outdoor games, even in unconventional settings outside of a stadium venue like Lake Tahoe. Both teams were unable to practice on the specially built outdoor rink before Saturday's Vegas-Colorado game because of the ice conditions.

(AP Photo/John Locher)The NHL is temporarily ditching microchipped pucks six days into the season after concerns were raised about their performance. The first 44 games this season were played with the “tracking” pucks that players and coaches could tell were a little off. The NHL expects new tracking pucks to be available soon and put back into play after undergoing testing. It's unclear exactly when puck tracking will return or when stats like players' skating speed will be available to the public. But sitting here right now, I couldn’t I couldn’t give you exact timelines.”___Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno___More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Philadelphia Flyers' James van Riemsdyk celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, in Philadelphia. Joel Farabee had a goal and three assists, Michael Raffl, James van Riemsdyk and Patrick also scored to lead the Flyers to a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. Jankowski, who scored just five goals last season, scored the first one of this season 5:12 into the game. Farabee had assists on van Riemsdyk, Patrick and Hayes’ goals. UP NEXTThe Penguins and Flyers play again Friday in Philly as part of a packed, 56-game schedule necessitated by the pandemic.

It was the first day of training camp for Laviolette and the Washington Capitals and most of the NHL. Camps are now open for the league's 31 teams and they will last just 10 days. Columbus coach John Tortorella said he'd emphasize a major point to players about how to approach training and playing this season: “There is no complaining about anything." “Most players would argue that camps are a little bit long anyway," Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “I’ve been told from our team and from the league, when a player is not on the ice during training camp, we’re supposed to say he’s not available today,” Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said.

EDMONTON, AB Before playoff hockey returned to its usual intensity, the NHL and its players took time Saturday to highlight racial injustice and the sport's role in confronting it. What we did was the best thing for not only our two teams but I think for the NHL, and we stand by it, Horvat said. Vigneault had said in previous days he wasn't aware of anything going on outside the NHL bubble, including racial injustice protests in other sports. I never bothered to ask or check with anyone what was going in the world or the NBA. Being on the ice, you want to win hockey games, Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman said after his team won to take a 3-1 lead in the second-round series.

Weeks after he completed bone cancer treatments, Lindblom returned to the Philadelphia Flyers to begin the unlikeliest of comebacks. Lindblom says hes happier than ever to be back on the ice and skated with Flyers in Toronto Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020, before they played Montreal in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Lindblom turned 24 on Saturday and a day later he received a rousing applause from the Flyers hours before they prepared for their playoff game against Montreal. Now Im here and Im happier than ever, Lindblom said Sunday. Lindblom got to ring the bell on July 2 at Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, which signified that he had completed his radiation treatments.

TORONTO, ONT Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper took exception to the Columbus Blue Jackets being referred to as a blue-collar team. Is that a positive or a negative? Cooper said Monday, a day before his Eastern Conference second-seeded Lightning open the first round of the NHL playoffs against the seventh-seeded Blue Jackets. Thats in the history books forever, Cooper said, noting how both teams have made various changes to their lineups. Id call them a really good team.Familiarity is breeding respect among the East opponents entering the first round. The Islanders hold a 5-2 playoff series edge over Washington.

In this photo provided by the Dallas Stars NHL hockey team, interim head coach Rick Bowness watches practice in Frisco, Texas, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. You get out there and you miss it, the Dallas Stars coach said. You realize how much you enjoy being out there.The NHLs oldest head coach still worries about COVID-19 but not enough to stop doing his job. Im going to have to adjust to it, there is no question. The average age of the 24 head coaches in the playoffs is just under 54, the second-oldest behind the NBA among North Americas four major professional sports leagues.