Flyers 4, Penguins 2
Jaromir Jagr made the most of his return to the Steel City by scoring to snap a tie early in the second period as the Philadelphia Flyers pulled even atop the Atlantic Division with a 4-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
Booed vehemently throughout the contest, Jagr stickhandled away from defensemen Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik before beating Marc-Andre Fleury with a backhander to give the Flyers a 2-1 advantage. The 39-year-old Jagr, who played his first 11 NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, then incensed the Consol Energy Center faithful by giving his signature salute.
Claude Giroux increased his NHL-leading point total to 46 with a pair of assists and defenseman Kimmo Timonen and rookie Matt Read also tallied for Philadelphia. Former Penguin Max Talbot capped the scoring with an empty-net goal.
Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 24 saves for the Flyers, who have now won four in a row in Pittsburgh and are now level with the idle New York Rangers with 48 points.
With the Flyers holding a 2-1 edge, Read doubled the advantage just over 10 minutes later after cleaning up the rebound off fellow rookie Sean Couturier's backhander. The tally was Read's 12th of the season and first since Dec. 7.
Tyler Kennedy secured a multi-point night by beating Bobrovsky with a blast to bring the Penguins back within one with 6:29 remaining in the third period. Pittsburgh was unable to net the equalizer and saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.