Sean Couturier injured, but Travis Konecny’s first career hat trick, Carter Hart’s goaltending lift Flyers past Penguins, 5-2

Beating their king tormentor, Sidney Crosby, and the Pittsburgh Penguins twice in a row to start the season wasn’t an easy task.

And it was made more difficult Friday night when Sean Couturier, the Flyers’ star center, left the game with an injury early in the first period and did not return.

But even without Couturier, the Travis Konecny-led Flyers completed the unlikely sweep at the Wells Fargo Center, 5-2, against their bitter cross-state rivals.

Konecny scored the first hat trick of his career and Carter Hart was brilliant in the nets as the opportunistic Flyers swept the Penguins. They will take some serious momentum into a two-game series against Buffalo, which starts Monday.

They will also hold their collective breath on the severity of Couturier’s injury. Coach Alain Vigneault said Couturier would have an MRI on his shoulder Saturday.

“You definitely don’t want to see Coots go out early like that. We all pray he’s OK,” Hart said after stopping 31 of 33 shots. “We had guys step up ... and that just shows the depth of our team.”

With the absence of fans, Gritty tossed a huge hat onto the ice to celebrate Konecny’s third goal, scored after taking a feed from Kevin Hayes with 7 minutes, 7 seconds left and giving the Flyers a 4-2 lead.

Pittsburgh outplayed the Flyers for a good portion of the game and outshot the hosts, 33-20. That was counteracted by the play of Konecny (four points, plus-3) and Hart.

“There’s no doubt Carter Hart was the difference tonight,” Vigneault said.

The Flyers built a 3-0 lead, then allowed two goals -- Crosby on the power play, and then Brandon Tanev -- in a 32-second span and left the ice with a 3-2 lead after a wild first period.

Couturier, the team’s MVP the last two seasons and last year’s Selke Trophy winner as the league’s best defensive forward, appeared to injure his shoulder when checked into the boards.

If Couturier is sidelined, center Morgan Frost figures to be added to the lineup.

Jake Voracek, who replaced Couturier on the first power-play unit, set up Konecny for a goalmouth, five-on-four goal with 12:33 left in the first.

“I have to keep going to the net. It’s a cliche, everybody says get to the blue paint because bounces do happen when you are in there,” said Konecny after scoring his first goal in 21 games, including the postseason.

About two minutes later, Konecny scored on a rebound, and Ivan Provorov made it 3-0 by putting a left-circle blast past Tristan Jarry with 8:30 left in the first. Jarry was replaced by Casey DeSmith.

James van Riemsdyk and Voracek each had two assists during the 3-0 spurt.

The Penguins, however, quickly cut the deficit to 3-2.

“We can’t be giving up a 3-0 lead that easy,” said Konecny, whose team beat Pittsburgh, 6-3, in Wednesday’s opener.

As for the bitter rivalry with the Penguins, Konecny said, “We kind of love it. It’s definitely the style of hockey we like to play. We like getting in teams’ faces and it makes for some good rivalries when you’re out there playing. It makes it a lot of fun.”

Minus Couturier, the Flyers seemed out of sync in the second period as they were outshot, 10-4, and did little on three power-play opportunities, managing one shot, total.

Hart made a glove save on Chad Ruhwedel’s ticketed right-circle drive with 3:37 to go in the second, enabling the Flyers to carry a 3-2 lead into the third period. Hart was sharp in the second as he tried to steer the Flyers to their 16th 2-0 start in franchise history.

In the third, Hart denied Crosby in front while Pittsburgh was on a power play midway through the period. Oskar Lindblom also made a key block to help keep the Penguins off the scoreboard.

A short time later, Konecny secured the win, and Lindblom added an empty-net goal.

“I thought they outplayed us in the first two periods,” said Vigneault, whose team outscored the Penguins, 11-5, in the two wins. “In the third, with the game on the line, we were able to spend more time in their end.”