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Jagr, Talbot star as Flyers trip up Pens

Dec 30, 2011 - 6:34 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Jaromir Jagr and Maxime Talbot both scored against their former team as the Philadelphia Flyers took a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center.

Kimmo Timonen and Matt Read also tallied for the Flyers, who came into the game having lost their previous two and four of their last five contests.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 stops in the win, while Claude Giroux had two assists to increase his NHL-leading point total to 46.

Jagr had a storied career in Pittsburgh as he played there from 1990 through 2001. Talbot had spent his first six seasons in the Steel City before signing with the Flyers as a free agent this summer.

"It was a big game and personally it was nice for me and 'Jags' to get the goal, but more importantly is that we got the two points against a team we're going to be fighting for a playoff spot," said Talbot.

Philadelphia's next contest will by on January 2 against the New York Rangers in the annual Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park, home of baseball's Philadelphia Phillies.

Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy both had a goal for the Penguins, who saw their four-game winning streak stopped. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped just 19-of-22 shots in the loss.

"We knew it was a big game and we wanted to play our best, but they came out real hard and we were able to get those goals back," said Kennedy.

Just 44 seconds in, the Pens took a 1-0 lead as Kennedy sent a pass from behind the right side of the net over to the left and Staal used a quick shot to get it past Bobrovsky.

However, the Flyers struck on the power play halfway through the first as Timonen's one-timer from the slot off a feed from Giroux sailed over the glove of Fleury.

At the 6:03 mark of the second, Jagr cruised down the left side after getting the puck from Giroux, stickhandled across the middle and lifted a backhander into the net.

It was a 3-1 game 10 minutes later as Sean Couturier sent a backhander on net from the right side with the rebound kicking out front and Read burying it for his 12th of the year.

The score stayed that way until the 13:31 spot of the third as Kennedy's slap shot from the right circle beat Bobrovsky to the short side.

That goal sparked life in the Penguins as they went to a constant attack, but Bobrovsky came up with the saves on a late bench minor penalty and Talbot provided poetic justice by scoring into the empty net with 25 seconds to play.

Game Notes

Philly has won all four of its games at CONSOL Energy Center, which was opened by the two squads in October of 2010...The Flyers have won four straight in Pittsburgh for the first time since a five-game run from March of 1983 to March of 1984...It was Timonen's first goal of the season...Giroux has collected 13 multi-point games this season...Couturier notched two assists in his first game since being hit in the head by a Timonen shot on December 17...Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who assisted on the Kennedy goal, has a nine- game point streak during which he has posted six goals and 13 assists...The Pens play in New Jersey on New Year's Eve.