LAS VEGAS _ The Philadelphia Flyers ruined a party-like atmosphere Thursday night for a sellout crowd that included Las Vegas icon Wayne Newton.
A few hours after Vegas celebrated last season's improbable Western Conference championship and hoisted a banner to the rafters, the Flyers jolted the second-year Golden Knights, 5-2, at T-Mobile Arena.
Wayne Simmonds, who wasn't his physical self last season because of a litany of injuries, scored a pair of goals and goalie Brian Elliott played solidly as the Flyers won their season opener for the third straight year. Simmonds had a hat trick in last year's season-opening win in San Jose.
The Flyers scored on five of their 16 shots against Marc-Andre Fleury, who is coming off the best season of his decorated career. Fleury, however, has struggled against the Flyers in his career, with a save percentage below .900.
Fleury was removed midway through the second period and his team trailing, 5-1.
Goals by rookie Oskar Lindblom and Simmonds erased an early deficit and gave the Flyers a 2-1 first-period lead.
Vegas dominated the first 10 minutes and took the lead when Jonathan Marchessault converted a long pass from defenseman Jon Merrill and beat Elliott with a left-circle drive with 13 minutes, 23 seconds left in the first. Defenseman Andrew MacDonald started to go off the ice on a line change, then tried to get back into the play after Merrill's pass started a fastbreak into the Flyers' end.
Lindblom finished off a three-on-one with Travis Sanheim and Jake Voracek and scored on a backhander in front, knotting the score at 1-1 with 8:36 to go in the period.
After some key saves by Elliott, Simmonds made it 2-1 as he tapped in a loose puck that was inches from the goal line. Robert Hagg (two points) had thrown a shot toward the net that appeared to deflect off Fleury and gently hit the post, and the hard-driving Simmonds beat a defenseman to the puck with 1:27 left in the session.
Simmonds, now healthy after an injury-plagued season, had four first-period hits and Hagg had five. The Flyers outhit the Knights in the first 20 minutes, 20-8, but Vegas had the better scoring attempts (21-11).
The Flyers' lead grew from 2-1 to 5-1 as they scored three goals in a stunning 4:19 span, getting tallies from Simmonds, Hagg, and Scott Laughton.
Simmonds scored from his office, out front, and it gave him 70 power-play goals in the last six years _ second in the NHL in that span. Hagg converted a slick pass from James van Riemsdyk _ rookie Mikhail "Misha" Vorobyev (plus-3), making his NHL debut, also had an assist for his first career point _ and Laughton beat Fleury with a deft deflection on Radko Gudas' shot.
Elliott protected that lead with several key saves as the Flyers took a 5-1 lead into the third period.
Penalties to Gudas and MacDonald gave the Knights a five-on-three for 1:18 early in the third period, but the Flyers withstood the barrage as Elliott and defenseman Ivan Provorov led the way.
Former Flyer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got the Knights to within 5-2 with a shorthanded goal with 11:32 left.
Vegas is now 29-11-2 at home since it entered the league, with two of those losses to the Flyers.
