CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -Daniel Briere made a great first impression with his Philadelphia Flyers teammates.
Briere scored his first two goals in a Philadelphia uniform to help the Flyers beat Calgary 3-2 on Thursday night, spoiling Mike Keenan's regular-season debut behind the Flames' bench.
"I'm really happy he got off to a good start tonight and hopefully that will build some confidence in our group heading into the rest of the trip," Flyers head coach John Stevens said.
Briere, who signed a five-year, $52 million contract in the offseason, connected on the game-winner with 1:48 left to give the Flyers the victory.
"It was pretty cool, but it's not just about me," Briere said. "It's about the team, but there's no doubt that personally it feels great to help your team and doing your part for a big win like tonight.
"We're trying to create a new identity for ourselves and we don't want to talk about what happened last year."
The Flyers finished dead last in the NHL last season with their worst record in franchise history at 22-48-12. The overhaul began even before last season ended. Only nine players on Philadelphia's season-opening roster Thursday started last season with the Flyers.
Mike Knuble and Briere scored in the first period to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. The Flames tied the game on a pair of goals from Daymond Langkow.
"We did a great job of getting back in the game and we kept coming in the second and third and eventually we got the equalizer," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "It's a tough way to lose but we have to look at ourselves and know that we can't spot teams a lead like that and have a start like that."
Martin Biron made 24 saves for the Flyers while Miikka Kiprusoff made 23 saves for the Flames.
Keenan last coached with Florida from 2001-03 and later became the team's GM until he resigned in September, 2006.
Philadelphia led 2-0 after the opening period on goals from Knuble and Briere.
Langkow scored a power-play goal early in the second period, and then tied it in the third before Briere's second goal.
Notes: Thursday's game was the only meeting between the two clubs this season and the first since Dec. 16, 2003. ... Dean McAmmond scored the OT goal for Calgary in the previous meeting between these two clubs. ... The only current players remaining on each roster from that game were Iginla, Craig Conroy, Stephane Yelle and Robyn Regehr for the Flames and Gagne for the Flyers. ... The only time the two clubs had met in a season-opener prior to Thursday was in 1979-80, the Flames' last year in Atlanta. The Flames won 9-2. ... Philadelphia improved to 18-15-7 in season openers, while Calgary dropped to 11-14-10.
