Jagr sparks Flyers in Pittsburgh return

Jaromir Jagr scored on his return to Pittsburgh Thursday, sparking the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-2 victory and snapping the Penguins' four-game win streak.

Jagr, who spent the first 11 years of his career with the Penguins, broke a 1-1 tie with his 12th goal of the season to give the Flyers the momentum in the second period.

The 39-year-old joined Philadelphia in the off-season after spending three years in Russia, and admitted that he should have scored a hatful in familiar surroundings.

I felt pretty good, I had so many chances, Jagr told reporters. I could have scored five goals, but I just couldn't score. Fifteen years ago I would score five. But not anymore.

Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal had opened the scoring before Kimmo Timonen tied it at 1-1 midway through the first period.

After Jagr put the Flyers ahead six minutes into the second, Matt Read made it 3-1 10 minutes later.

Pittsburgh's Tyler Kennedy cut the deficit to 3-2 with a slap shot at 13:31 in the third period but Maxime Talbot clinched the win with an empty-net goal with 25 seconds remaining.

The victory moved Philadelphia (22-10-4) into a tie with the New York Rangers for first place in the Atlantic Division while the Penguins (21-12-4) stayed two points behind.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves to help secure the win for the Flyers while Claude Giroux chipped in two assists to run his assist total to 29 on the season.

The Flyers had lost four of five coming into the night but found inspiration in Pittsburgh.

We've been successful in this building, Giroux said. I don't know -- we just come and play our game and play the way we should play. I think we're starting to like playing here.