Flyers Crash Bruins' Cup party with 2-1 Season-Opening Win

The Philadelphia Flyers spoiled the Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup banner-raising celebration with a narrow 2-1 win in the opening game of the 2011-12 National Hockey League season on Friday.

Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia's major free agent acquisition during the offseason, was spectacular in goal turning aside 22 shots, half of them in the third period.

Through the course of the game, even after the first two periods, they did not have a lot of shots on net. A lot of the ones they did have were quality chances, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. The ones that slipped through us were some mistakes that we made. But he (Bryzgalov) was able to bail us out. He played really strong.

Boston's Brad Marchand opened the scoring with a powerplay goal midway through the first period, capping a strong start by the Bruins that was fueled by the Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony prior to the game.

Philadelphia silenced the Boston crowd with two goals in a 47-second span during the final minute of the first period.

Claude Giroux tied the score on the powerplay after taking a pass from Jaromir Jagr, who was playing in his first NHL game in three years, and Jakub Voracek gave Philadelphia the lead with just three seconds remaining in the frame.

Those two goals kind of hurt us and put us back on our heels, Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said. The first period, most of it was ours. At the end, I thought we generated a lot of chances and we were playing well, but those two goals hurt us and we didn't find a way to come back.

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, coming off a season where he won the Vezina Trophy as top goalie and Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs, kept Boston close despite being outshot 29-23.

Jagr's assist was his 1,600th NHL point and first since spending three seasons in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.