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Flyers, Penguins clash in Philadelphia

Feb 18, 2012 - 3:08 PM (Sports Network) - The latest edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania is on tap today in Philadelphia, as the Flyers welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins for an afternoon battle at Wells Fargo Center.

Today's contest marks the third of six scheduled meetings between the cross- state rivals this year and the remaining matchups could play a big part in determining the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Philadelphia is currently fourth in the East, while Pittsburgh is two points behind in sixth place.

The Flyers have won both meetings against Pittsburgh this year and have taken three straight and five of six in this series. The Pens have been handed defeats in two of their last three trips to Philly, but Pittsburgh has still taken seven of nine in the City of Brotherly Love.

Philadelphia is playing its final home game of February today, as the club will close the month on a four-game road trip. The Flyers are 14-9-5 at home compared to a superior 18-9-2 road mark.

The Flyers ended a two-game slide and won for just the second time in seven games when they routed the visiting Buffalo Sabres, 7-2, on Thursday. Buffalo scored the first two goals of the game before Philadelphia exploded for seven markers over the final two periods.

Wayne Simmonds and Maxime Talbot both scored a pair of goals and Claude Giroux added five assists. Scott Hartnell also had a goal and three assists. Ilya Bryzgalov, starting for the first time since February 7, made 27 saves to earn the victory.

"I think it's a win that happened at the right time," said Talbot. "We definitely need to build off this in the future."

Simmonds scored twice despite getting hit in the face with a puck in pre-game warm-ups and needing 25 stitches. His two tallies extended his career-high goal total to 20 on the season. Meanwhile, Giroux's five helpers gives him 67 points on the season and leaves him two points shy of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin for the league lead.

The Flyers will welcome new defenseman Nicklas Grossman to the fold today after acquiring the big Swede from Dallas in a trade on Thursday. Philadelphia sent the Stars a 2012 second-round pick and a 2013 third-round pick for Grossman, who expects to make his Flyers debut this afternoon.

Philadelphia expects to get forward Jaromir Jagr back today after he sat out Thursday with flu-like symptoms and defenseman Andrej Meszaros is also expected to return after missing one game with an unspecified upper-body injury. Danny Briere, however, is questionable after sustaining an upper-body injury in Thursday's game, while fellow forward Tom Sestito is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks

Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk is also close to returning from a concussion that has caused him to miss the last 15 games and there is an outside chance that he could play today.

Pittsburgh last played on Wednesday, when it had a two-game win streak halted in a 2-1 regulation loss to visiting Anaheim. Teemu Selanne scored a tie- breaking goal in the third period and Jonas Hiller stopped 25-of-26 shots sent his way.

Anaheim managed to silence Malkin, who had five goals and five assists over a five-game point streak before being kept off the scoresheet by the Ducks. Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for the Penguins, who were trying for their seventh consecutive home win.

"There was definitely opportunities where we could have made better plays to bury the team," Pittsburgh forward Jordan Staal said.

Pittsburgh is on a brief two-game road trip and will cap the swing tomorrow in Buffalo. The Pens are 15-12-3 as the guest this season.

On the injury front, the Penguins are still playing without Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy, but fellow forward Arron Asham could return today from a concussion. Asham suffered the head injury back on Jan. 15 and was activated from injured reserve on Friday.