Flyers beat Pens for first in East

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – In a teeter-totter like match, the Flyers took over first place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-2 win over their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, on Thursday night. Both teams played without their captains, and special teams proved all the difference.
 
As opposed to Wednesday night’s affair against the Coyotes, in which the Flyers had to battle back from three-goals down, the orange and black got off to an early start, and held a 3-0 lead until late in the second period, when the Penguins finally got themselves on the board.
 
Even with all the power play time, the Flyers gave the Penguins in the first period, they still out shot the Pens, 15-8, and walked away with the only goal of the first stanza.
 
The first period, also saw the Flyers penalty killers come up big in a 5-on-3, which also saw two Flyers lose their sticks, leaving only 37-year-old defenseman Kimmo Timonen with all of his equipment to play effectively. The penalty kill frustrated the Pens so much, that Chris Kunitz was forced to take an ill timed cross-checking penalty, when he leveled the veteran Timonen.
 
The second period was a back-and-forth affair that saw a slew of penalties to both teams, seven in all, plus a fight. The shots were near even, but with a late goal off a nifty feed from superstar Evgeni Malkin, winger James Neal scored the Pens first goal of the night on the power play, and the visitors showed signs of coming alive.
 
The third period had zero penalties, and the Pens had control, outshooting the Flyers 14-7. They scored the only goal of the period off a rising shot from Malkin that Flyers’ goalie Ilya Bryzgalov had no chance to stop.
 
Even with the Pens big third period push, the Flyers defense and netminder held on for the win.
 
“It wasn’t our best, the last, ten-to-twelve minutes,” said Flyers’ coach Peter Laviolette. ”But the guys really fought for it.”
 
Two reasons for the Flyers win were power winger Wayne Simmonds, who scored a power play goal and an assist on the night, and defensive centerman Max Talbot, who saw his old team for the first time. Talbot had two shots on goal, went 8-for-15 in the faceoff circle, and made some brilliant defensive plays that probably saved the game. This was the first time Talbot and future hall-of-famer Jaromir Jagr saw their old team, since becoming Flyers.
 
When asked about the emotions of the game, Jagr said, ”It’s probably different for [Talbot], because he played there last year. I didn’t play there for ten years. However the media makes it up this summer, I got nothing to do with it. I understand the [Penguins] fans were pretty upset for me not going to Pittsburgh.”
 
The penalty kill was also a big part of the win, even though it allowed a Pens goal in the second, there were times when the PK controlled the puck for long stretches, and kept the Pens attack from getting any good chances. The PK did well, especially since it allowed two goals on four chances against the Coyotes the night before, and allowed four goals in the previous four games.
 
“I thought they did a really good job,” said Laviolette, when asked about the penalty kills. “[They] had some good coverage.”
 
The power play, for the Flyers was strong as well. The power play went only 1-for-6 on the night, but they’ve now gone 6-for-19 in their last four games. And although it’s not always Jagr getting the points, the big Czech is usually on the ice.
 
The Flyers have taken over first in the conference now with wins in all possible situations. They’ve come back from three-goals down, they’ve nearly squandered a three goal lead, only to hold on in the last minutes for the win. They’ll need to get ahold of some consistency to hold on for the long haul, however, and it isn’t getting any easier, as Flyers’ captain Chris Pronger has been placed on LTIR for an indefinite period of time with what appears to be concussion-like symptoms.
 
The Flyers are right back at it, Saturday night, against the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning. Hopefully they can continue to win, as they’ve won six of their last seven.
 
Contact Chuck.Tay@prohockeynews.com Photographer Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com