Coyotes Take 2-0 Lead in NHL Series, Flyers Defeat Devils in OT

Antoine Vermette’s fifth goal of the postseason opened the scoring as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their second- round National Hockey League playoff series.

Martin Hanzal, Radim Vrbata, Taylor Pyatt and Shane Doan also scored last night for the Coyotes, who won two straight games at home in Glendale, Arizona, to open the Western Conference semifinal series.

Andrei Kostitsyn, Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Suter scored for the Predators, who host Game 3 in the best-of-seven series May 2 in Nashville.

In Philadelphia, Danny Briere’s second goal of the game 4:36 into overtime gave the Flyers a 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils to open their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

James van Riemsdyk and Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers yesterday at the Wells Fargo Center. Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Petr Sykora scored for the Devils.

Game 2 is set for May 1 in Philadelphia.

Tonight, the New York Rangers take a 1-0 series lead into their game against the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles tries to win its second straight at St. Louis. The Kings have a 1-0 lead in their series against the second-seeded Blues.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Gloster in San Francisco at rgloster@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net