Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Flyers hold on against Pens, earn top spot in the East

Jaromir Jagr

Philadelphia Flyers’ Jaromir Jagr (68), of Czech Republic, celebrates his goal against the Buffalo Sabres during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Derek Gee)

AP

The Flyers have made a habit of huge comebacks lately. Last Friday, the Flyers came back from a three-goal deficit to beat the Anaheim Ducks. Then last night, the Flyers roared back from an early three-goal hole to beat the Buffalo Sabres on Versus.

Tonight? Tonight they tried to flip the script.

The Flyers jumped all over the Penguins and controlled the first two periods of the game. But in the third frame, the Pens came with a late charged and almost gave the Flyers a taste of their own medicine. Instead, they came up short and the Flyers escaped with the 3-2 victory to vault them into the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The win was particularly big for a couple of former Penguins. Max Talbot joined the Flyers after parts of six seasons in Pittsburgh; Jaromir Jagr signed with Philadelphia after making his mark on the league with the Penguins a decade ago. Both know that they aren’t the most popular men in the Steel City these days.

Jagr was able to joke about missing an empty net after the game. “Their fans were happy that I didn’t score and I’m happy we won the game. I just make everybody happy. You have to find a way to make everybody happy. That’s what I did.”

The high-scoring Flyers have been able to get it done this season with the best offensive in the league, but Thursday night featured some great team defense for the first half of the game. It was the defense that served as the catalyst for the win against the Pens. They’ve won four straight games as they go into their rematch against the Tampa Bay Lightning this weekend. You may remember what happened the last time the two teams played.

For the Penguins, they showed in the final period that they can generate plenty of pressure without their sidelined captain. Regardless, they will need a more complete effort on Saturday against the Islanders before they (presumably) get Crosby back for Tuesday’s game against the Red Wings.

Even though the Pens got off to a hot start this season, the better keep it up. The Flyers aren’t showing any signs of slowing down.